Good Practices

for Urban Greening

Washington, D.C.
May 1997CENV-109

This document was prepared for the Environment Division of the Social Programs and Sustainable
Development Department of the Inter-American Development Bank. The work was coordinated by Kari
Keipi, Senior Forester and Natural Resource Specialist. The principal author was Mark Sorensen,
University of Brownsville, Texas. Jac Smit of the Urban Agriculture Network contributed to several
chapters of the text, as did Valerie Barzetti, an independent consultant, who also co-edited the document.
John Williams co-edited the manuscript and contributed to the text.
Comments were also received from Sergio Ardila, Arthur Darling, Robert Daughters, Gilbert Nolet, Raul
Tuazon and William Vaughan of the IDB, and from 62 experts who reviewed the draft during the
International Seminar on Urban Greening in Latin America and the Caribbean, held in Mexico City on
December 2-5, 1996.

Preface

Given that almost three-quarters of the people of Latin America and the Caribbean live in cities,
improvements in urban living conditions are essential to raise the overall quality of life. The InterAmerican Development Bank has long been active in lending to ameliorate urban pollution and
resolve water-related problems. Although financing for so-called Agreen@ urban projects has been
limited, the few instances in which it was undertaken proved quite positive. As a result, and in
light of the many benefits of establishing and managing green areas, the Bank=s Environment
Division carried out a study of the management of green urban areas in the region.
This first-of-its-kind study found that municipalities are aware of the numerous benefits that
accrue from the management of green areas. However, the availability of financing for these
types of projects is severely restricted. In addition, there is a scarcity of trained professionals and
workers in the field, a distinct lack of regional exchanges of existing information, and little
technology transfer from other parts of the world.
Consequently, the IDB stepped in to fill this gap by organizing a regional meeting in cooperation
with the state of Mexico and Mexico City municipal authorities, who are currently undertaking a
multimillion dollar environmental conservation program with partial financing from the Bank.
The seminar provided an immediate opportunity to consult regional decisionmakers on the study
and solicit their input and recommendations for improvement. Seminar participants also
recommended that the Bank take a proactive role in promoting green environmental management
in all urban development projects proposed for financing. In this regard, the Bank=s goal should
be to assist borrowing countries in raising the current level of 3.5 square meters of green open
space per city dweller to the international standard of 9 square meters.
This report provides a basis for planning, executing and further discussing urban green
investments, and should contribute to improving the quality of urban development projects.

Walter Arensberg
Environment Division
Social Programs and Sustainable Development Department
Inter-American Development Bank

Contents
Executive Summary

Introduction
Urban Growth
The Composition of the Population
The Urban Environment
Urban Planning
IDB Participation in Urban Greening

1
2
2
3
4
5

Benefits of Urban Greening

Environmental Benefits
Material Benefits
Social Benefits

8
8
16
18

Challenges Facing Urban Greening

Economic Valuation for Urban Greening
Institutional Challenges
Financial Sustainability
Land Tenure
Local Participation
Ecological Constraints
Legislation and Customs
Gender Issues
Growth Management and Integrated Planning

21
21
24
25
26
26
27
27
28
28

Basic Requirements
for Developing an Urban Greening Program
Types of Projects
Social and Political Support
Legal Framework
Institutional Feasibility
Technical Viability and Environmental Sustainability
Financial and Economic Viability

31
31
34
37
39
40
41

Activities of Urban Greening Programs

Public Outreach and Education
Public Parks
Street and Residential Trees
Urban Agriculture
Greenbelts and Greenways
Watershed Management
Protected Areas

43
43
44
44
45
46
47
48

Financing Urban Greening

Potential Funding Strategies
Public Funding
Cost Avoidance, Reduction and Recovery
Debt-for-Nature Swaps
Trust Funds
Private Funding

50
50
50
51
52
53
53

Conclusion

55

References

57

Appendices
A: Pictures of Urban Greening in the Region
B: Glossary of Terms
C: Directory of Projects, Contacts and Organizations

66

List of Boxes
Box 1: Integrated Air Quality Improvement
Box 2: Green Spaces and Flood Control in Curitiba, Brazil
Box 3: Tree Preferences in Quito
Box 4: Assessing Employee Training Needs
Box 5: Participation of Diverse Ethnic Groups
Box 6: Urban Agricultural Projects
Box 7: National, Regional and Local Funds for Protected Areas
Systems or Nature Conservancy

9
13
18
32
44
45
54

Executive Summary

The increasing concentration of human

populations in cities presents urban planners
with enormous challenges in meeting the
demand for infrastructure. Population
growth and high human densities can exact a
heavy toll on a city=s fragile natural and
environmental resources, particularly in
developing countries where squatter
communities are prevalent and resources are
scarce. Nevertheless, the preservation of a
system of vegetated areas, or green spaces,
can improve the quality of life by providing
people with natural settings for leisure and
recreation, and by safeguarding the quality
of precious life-giving resources such as air
and water. Green areas also have the
potential for affording citizens the
opportunity to get direct economic benefits
through urban agriculture or forestry. Yet
none of these amenities occurs accidentally.

community groups, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and even the international

community. It is the local community, however, that is to benefit most directly from a
greening project, and on whom the ultimate
success of the project depends.
This report seeks to provide the reader with
a strong background on the benefits,
challenges, and approaches to the
development of a sustainable urban greening
program. It is intended to be applicable to a
broad readership, ranging from government
officials and city planners to local business
owners, concerned community members, and
the staff of organizations such as the InterAmerican Development Bank. While the
objective is not to be exhaustive on any one
part of the topic, the goal is to cover the
major elements necessary in project
initiation. Included are a variety of examples
from case studies throughout Latin America
and the world to illustrate real life problems
and solutions. The examples and ideas in the
report draw on the expertise and acumen of
more than 300 professionals from 23
countries; people who work in all reaches of
the private and public sector, with insights
on the political, administrative, technical,
financial and social aspects of urban
greening. Many of these people came
together to share their experience and
knowledge at the 1996 Mexico City Seminar
on Urban Greening sponsored by the Bank,
where they also participated in workshops
specifically designed to review an earlier
draft of this publication. This final report

Careful planning and forethought are the

keys to ensuring that a city will have healthy
natural resources for both today and
tomorrow. Local governments, however,
cannot undertake the planning and
preparation alone. Because green spaces
are ultimately for the enjoyment and benefit
of citizens, city planners need to involve
local communities in the decision-making
process. This means soliciting input from
the public on topics ranging from siting and
designing green spaces, to establishing a
priority ranking of desired environmental
benefits, and developing workable upkeep
strategies.
Cooperation also includes
involvement of the private sector, as well as
i

represents the culmination of the efforts of

these professionals and the staff of the IDB.

monetary value on benefits such as clean air

and a stroll through the parkCbenefits that
are typically thought of as unquantifiable.
Without some economic estimation of these
benefits, investors cannot accurately compare the value of greening projects to other
more quantifiable, but perhaps less-needed
uses of the land.

The first section of this report introduces the

phenomenon of rapid urban growth, the
form it takes (i.e., what it looks like and
where it occurs), and why an urban greening
effort is particularly necessary. Illustrations
of environmental neglect demonstrate how
the quality of urban life can be jeopardized
by air and water pollution, development in
fragile ecosystems, and loss of water catchment and floodplain surface areas. The
development of a design plan is the first step
for creating an integrated citywide green
system. City planners need to prioritize
projects, establish criteria and set quantitative targets to evaluate progress and
judge the degree of success. The general
target, established by the World Health
Organization, is the availability of a minimum
of 9 square meters of green space per city
dweller. Currently, only 3.5 square meters
of green area per inhabitant are available in
Latin American cities. The paper also
outlines the function of the IDB in urban
greening, describing both the part it has
played in the past, and the leadership role it
could take in the future.
The Bank
sponsored the first regional forum for the
exchange of ideas and experiences, and
helped create a hemisphere-wide information
and resource network on urban greening.
The IDB will continue to finance greening
investments.

Municipalities face great challenges in implementing greening projects under rapid urban
growth conditions, where the ability to
provide technical, legal and institutional
support may be in question.
Another
difficulty is making sure that investors
continue their support throughout the life of
the project and provide for monitoring and
maintenance expenses.
Covering these
expenses is rarely possible without local
investment which, in turn, hinges on the
perception of being a legitimate stakeholder
and having land tenure security for their
homes and green areasCan illusive concept
in many developing countries. Ecological
factors also constrain greening efforts since
problems like soil compaction and air
pollution may limit the types of plants and
species that will be able to survive in an area.
Outdated laws and customs thwart
successful environmental improvements
when, for example, dumping of industrial
effluent into a river is accepted, whether or
not it is legal. Finally, planners and city
officials need to incorporate the input of
women when designing projects, since
women are responsible for a large share of a
family=s interaction with the natural environment whether through gardening,
firewood collection, or taking children to the
park.

This report=s second section describes the

many environmental, material, and social
benefits associated with urban greening
efforts. The third section addresses the
biggest challenges confronting urban
greening projects. Foremost among them is
getting people to place an appropriate

The fourth section delineates the basic

frameworksCsocial, political, financial,
ii

contribution to a network of protected

ecosystems to safeguard wildlife habitats and
biological diversity.

etc.Cthat need to be in place for an urban

greening program to be successful. Four
basic types work particularly well for
greening investment projects: stand-alone
projects for specific cities; components of
other urban development projects, such as
infrastructure
improvements;
Aglobal@
projects that share resources and strategies
for a number of smaller urban centers; and
projects whose goal is only to provide
technical assistance and training.
Solid
social and political support is paramount to
the success of a project and requires the involvement at the national, regional and
local levels. Technical training and support
throughout a program=s life-span are
essential to a viable investment, as is an
understanding of the environmental factors
necessary to ensure sustainable ecosystems.
Lastly, investors and citizens need to
understand and adhere to the financial
conditions and expectations of a greening
project, just as the population needs to be
aware of the economic benefits and
constraints in order to support greening
activities throughout the lifetime of each.

The final section deals with the financial aspects of urban greening. Securing of at least
two investment sources is essential to
countering the risk of unstable financial
support. Strategists can use a wide variety
of public funding strategies, including
general taxes, greening-specific taxes, permit
and fee revenues, and municipal bonds,
among others. Private funding is an
essential counterpart to public financing, and
it includes an equally diverse range of
options, including advertizing opportunities,
entrance fees, philanthropic donations,
contributions in kind, green improvements as
a component of development projects, etc.
Cost avoidance and reduction mechanisms
provide a means of accounting to show the
public and city officials how a green area
saves city money, for example, by avoiding
flood damage or by reducing sediment
buildup in reservoirs due to erosion
protection mechanisms. Cost recovery and
sharing can be achieved, for example, by
renting out agricultural plots or offering
firewood collection in exchange for labor
inputs. Lastly, debt-for-nature swaps and
the establishment of innovative trust funds
with the private sector may provide
communities with financing for green areas
without making additional drains on capitalscarce public accounts.

Section five itemizes the fundamental

components that tend to make up a
successful urban greening program. Public
outreach needs to invite public participation
and offer education to everyone, from
children to senior citizens, about the benefits
of green spaces in cities. More technical, but
just as essential to a diverse urban green
system is the inclusion of a variety of
greening strategies, consisting of public
parks with recreational and ecological
components, street and residential trees,
agricultural projects and greenways. It is
crucial that green systems are designed to
achieve the overarching goals of watershed
and natural resource management and the
iii

Introduction

Sometime around the turn of the millennium,

an urban baby will be born whose birth will
tip a crucial balance. That day will see
humanity change from being a predominantly
rural to a predominantly urban species. In
1810 there was just one city of a million
people: London. Today, there are 35 cities
whose population surpasses five million
inhabitants, and most of these are located in
developing countries (Girardet 1995). What
are the implications of this urban explosion?
Can the world=s cities accommodate so many
people sustainably? Will people find these
urban environments sufficiently hospitable?
What impact will such growth have on the
natural environment?

refers to any revegetation effortCincluding

the planting of trees, shrubs, grass, or
agricultural plotsCwhose design is intended
to improve the environmental quality,
economic opportunity, or aesthetic value
associated with a city=s landscape. Urban
greening is seen as a strategy for
simultaneously making our cities more
enjoyable, liveable and sustainable.
Urban parks and other vegetated areas in
cities have traditionally been viewed
principally as recreational amenities. Urban
greening comes from the recognition that
such urban green areas can and should be
used in an integrated, holistic manner for
many other environmental and social benefits
beyond recreational use and aesthetics.
These include improving basic sanitation,
providing potable water, controlling
floodwaters, treating sewage, reducing air
pollution, disposing of solid wastes,
moderating both macro- and microclimates,
increasing biodiversity and reducing poverty.

As more people leave rural environments for

the steel and concrete surroundings of cities,
there is a growing recognition that they will
need and want some form of vegetation present in their daily lives. Whether it is a shady
city park for recreation, a tree border for
noise reduction or a wetland area for flood
control, the concept of urban greening is
fast becoming a reality. The term evolved
from Miller=s (1988) definition to mean Aan
integrated, citywide approach to the
planting, care and management of all
vegetation in a city to secure multiple
environmental and social benefits for urban
dwellers.@ While Aurban forestry@ typically
refers to the planting and maintenance of
groups of trees and Aurban agriculture@ to
food grown by city and suburban dwellers,
Aurban greening@ is a more general term. For
the purposes of this paper, urban greening

This report examines the role of urban greening in Central and South America (hereafter
referred to collectively as ALatin America@)
and the Caribbean. The report is intended to
be of interest to a broad readership, ranging
from government officials and city planners
to local business owners, concerned
community members, and the staff of
organizations such as the Inter-American
Development Bank. While the objective is
not to be exhaustive on any one part of the
topic, the goal is to cover the major elements
1

(19.1 million), Mexico City (16.8 million),

New York City (14.6 million), Osaka-KobeKyoto (14.1 million), Bombay (13.5 million),
Calcutta (12.9 million), Rio de Janeiro (12.8
million), and Buenos Aires (12.2 million)

necessary in project initiation. The report

seeks to outline the fundamentals of urban
greening programsC including the benefits,
challenges, and principal elements of
successful projectsCfor a diverse audience of
city planners, government officials, and
concerned citizens.

Distribution of Population in Cities

in Developing Countries

Drawing on the expertise of a wide range of

professionals, this draft reflects the
comments, revisions, and discussions of
numerous working groups that critiqued an
earlier draft at the 1996 Mexico City
Seminar on Urban Greening, sponsored by
the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB
1996b).
The report uses a variety of
examples from actual projects around the
world in order to serve as a learning resource
guide that investigates lessons of the past
and present in hopes of improving urban
greening projects of the future.

Population

Share of Urban Population

(%)
1990

2000

> 4 million

20.2

23.2

2 to 4 million

8.6

10.0

1 to 2 million

11.0

11.0

0.5 to 1 million

10.3

8.8

Source: Bartone et al., 1994

(US Bureau of the Census International Data

Base 1995). In addition, twelve Latin
American cities are among the 65 largest
cities in the world. These twelve cities are
projected to grow at approximately 3 percent
annually between 1995 and 2000. The table
shows that the urban population in
developing countries is becoming more
concentrated and that large cities are
growing faster than smaller cities.

Urban Growth
United Nations figures indicate that in 1990
only 37 percent of the total population of
developing countries lived in urban areas.
By the year 2025, it is estimated that 61
percent of the population will be urbanized.
There are many reasons to explain this rapid
urban growth, including falling death rates,
industrialization (which concentrates job
opportunities in urban areas), high fertility
rates, a popular perception of greater
opportunities in urban areas, and political
and economic problems in rural areas
(UNDP 1996).

The Composition of the Population

Who are the people that comprise these
statistics on growing urban populations in
the region? Who are the people living in the
cities of Latin America and the Caribbean,
and thus most affected by urban
environmental problems and sustainability
issues? How does urban greening fit into
their varied lifestyles and livelihoods?

Latin America is the most urbanized region

in the developing world, claiming almost half
of the most populous cities. In 1995, the ten
largest cities in the world were Tokyo (28.4
million), Sao Paulo (21.1 million), Seoul

Urban greening must not only serve the

needs of all urban residents, but they must
also participate fully in it. There are
numerous subgroups that compose the
2

population of urban dwellers in Latin

America, including recently arrived poor
migrants, migrants that are beginning to
settle, well-established urban dwellers, single
workers, families, people from various
economic strata, groups with varied educational levels, those with and without rural
links, and those with and without tenure to
their residence, among others.

not easily acknowledged by planning

authorities and thereafter suffer from an
inadequate infrastructure.
Nevertheless, after several years of existing
as viable communities, many of the region=s
informal settlements become integrated into
their cities= overall planning and eventually
may receive some public services. Many of
these squatter communities are established
on the worst possible sites for building as,
for example, on the steep hillsides of La Paz,
Bolivia; in marsh and lake bed preserves and
in junkyards in Mexico City; on steep
riverside slopes in Asuncion, Paraguay; in
the shallow bays and inlets of Salvador,
Brazil; and in the polluted lagoons of
Cartagena, Colombia. (See Appendix A,
Photo #1).

The majority of the population of the

region=s cities is poor. The state and quality
of the economy and environment of the cities
are shaped predominantly by people whose
incomes are in the mid to low range; namely,
factory workers; those making clothes,
foods, and crafts in their homes; government
clerks; and peddlers (Porritt 1991). Given
the numbers and needs of this lower income
population, it is imperative that they play a
central role in planning and implementing
urban greening in their cities.

The Urban Environment

The accelerating rate of urbanization is
exacerbating the serious environmental
problems already found in the cities of Latin
America and the Caribbean. The urban poor,
usually residing on marginal, environmentally
sensitive land, often face the greatest
exposure to urban environmental hazards.
Despite the fact that the poor are most often
the hardest hit by these hazards, air, water
and noise pollution affect people of every
economic stratum. The social and ecological
costs of urban pollution will continue to
affect the growing urban populations in the
region unless the cycle of degradation and
poverty can be broken.

Many of the people migrating to urban

centers in Latin America and the Caribbean
are political, economic or environmental
refugees. In general, the poor arriving from
rural areas or smaller cities gravitate to high
density, low cost housing in an urban center
or to squatter settlements on its outskirts.
Squatter settlements (also known as illegal
settlements, illegal occupations, or invasiones) are found in most cities in Latin
America and vary greatly in their origin and
evolution.
The term informal settlements will be used
for migrant communities whose residents
lack title to their land. These lands are
typified by inadequate potable water, sewage
disposal, electricity or other public services.
In general, such informal settlements are
created illegally and, once established, are

Cases of soil, air and water pollution as well

as other environmental concerns, can be
found in any city in Latin America or the
Caribbean. For example:

Of the 1,100 tons of garbage

generated every day in Guatemala
City, only 750 tons are collected by
private and municipal companies.
The rest ends up in clandestine
garbage dumps or rots in vacant
lands in and around the city.

Landslides in Caracas, Venezuela,

most often occur on the steep
hillsides surrounding the downtown
area that is inhabited by the city=s
poor.

In 1992, powerful explosions in the

sewer system of Guadalajara, Mexico
killed at least 212 people and injured
1,000 more. The explosions were
caused by liquid hexane that had been
dumped into the municipal sewer system by a manufacturer. (Source: Bertone et al., 1994)

of the region=s cities. This, in turn, has

resulted in pollution-induced hypertension,
respiratory diseases and other serious health
problems.
Urban expansion has also been detrimental to
the land in and around cities. Conversion of
open space and agricultural lands to concentrated urban development decreases water
permeable areas, upsets natural drainage patterns and has caused serious flood problems
in a many of the region=s cities. Sao Paulo is
a dramatic example of this uncontrolled
conversion of open space resulting in
extensive flooding and air pollution
problems. Currently, urban spread over the
land occurs faster than urban population
growth by a factor of three to four times
(Smit 1996).
The political future of most developing
nations will be influenced by their success or
failure in managing their cities (Porritt 1991).
Given the immensity and complexity of
urban needs, many governments and
international agencies have no clear picture
of what to do with their cities or have
effective action plans for aiding the urban
poor.
Numerous
expensive
urban
development projects in the region have neither an understanding of, nor a partnership
with, the very people they are supposed to
be helping, nor have they considered
questions of ecologic or economic
sustainability. Even some of the urban
projects that appear to be successful are
actually treating symptoms rather than
causes.
Urban Planning

Water pollution in the region is particularly

prevalent. For instance, it is common for
industries in many cities to discharge
untreated wastewater into municipal sewers
or to dump it directly into urban rivers.
Another source of contaminants is human
excrement, which is often deposited in or
near a city=s waterways. The infectious and
parasitic diseases thus spread are among the
leading causes of morbidity and mortality in
the region.
Air pollution is another major cause for concern. The increasing number of vehicles with
untreated exhausts, expanding industrial sectors, and poor natural ventilation in many
cities have combined to create serious smog
problems. In addition, the use of coal and
highly toxic fuels for cooking and heating
have helped create unbreathable air in many

In order to maximize the value of urban

greening projects and minimize the
associated costs, city planners need to be
4

thinking
about
greening
possibilities
whenever they are considering urban public
works projects. Retrofitting a paved or
otherwise developed section of a city with a
park or greenway is generally far more
expensive
and
controversial
than
incorporating greening as part of a project in
a previously undeveloped area.

planners talk with water and sewage

engineers,
transportation
specialists,
agronomists,
businesses,
and
local
communities to design green areas that best
serve the intended beneficiaries.
There
are
myriad
possibilities
of
implementing green areas outside of the
traditional contexts of city parks, tree-lined
streets, or greenways. For example, creative
planners have integrated green areas into
water treatment projects, business parks,
highway construction, flood-plain protection,
and urban farms. One of the additional
benefits of integrating green areas into other
projects is that some or all of the costs are
absorbed into the budgets of these projects.
Greening costs become a natural part of
infrastructure programs when developers are
required to set aside project areas for
ecological benefits, or when urban planners
work in conjunction with the transportation
or water and power departments.

Quantitative Targets: When designing a

city=s green space infrastructure, planners
should aim to fulfill certain quantitative
targets. The World Health Organization
(WHO) recommends that cities provide 9m2
of undeveloped (unpaved) open space for
every inhabitant. The WHO also suggests
designing green area networks so that all
residents live within a 15 minute walk of an
open space. Other proposed goals are: the
development of a biodiversity index used to
rank green spaces based on the number and
percent composition of native species;
maintenance of a permanent record of
changes in air and water quality; an increase
in cost-effectiveness from project to project;
and charting public use and appreciation by
measuring user-days (equal to the number of
visits per person per year summed over all
users), willingness to pay, or other
preference indicators.

Lastly, planners must think ahead about

ensuring the longevity of the green spaces
they create. It is not enough to secure the
funds for the establishment of a particular
green area. That area also requires funds for
maintenance, protection and monitoring.
Without this money and public participation,
the plants die, the soil is compacted, the area
may be vandalized or covered with litter, and
could become crime-ridden or taken over by
squatters, thus losing the benefits that they
were designed to generate.

Maximizing Use and Benefits: Planners are

also needed to design urban green areas in a
way that maximizes the potential uses.
Whereas urban green areas have been
traditionally designed for recreation and
aesthetic value, their usefulness far exceeds
these functions. With proper design, green
areas can also improve air and water quality,
protect biodiversity, reduce erosion and
flood risks, provide agricultural output, etc.
But all this requires planning. It requires
cross-sectoral communication where city

The best chance for a green area to remain a

viable source of multiple amenities to surrounding communities comes not only when
there are provisions made for upkeep, but
when there is citizen participation. Because
a safe, well-maintained green area provides
5

multiple benefits for the surrounding community, planners should be able to stimulate
citizen and local business participation in the
upkeep of the area. By garnering local
participation, the community is made a vital
and effective stakeholder. Once a community
feels a sense of ownership of its green space,
the citizens will help provide far more
effective maintenance and protection than
the city alone could provide.

(IDB 1995). It is by sponsoring conferences

like this one and the 1996 Seminar on Urban
Greening in Mexico City (which included the
participation of 300 people from 26
countries), that the IDB hopes to continue
promoting the management of urban green
areas as a crucial element in improving the
environmental quality of urban centers and
the general quality of life itself (IDB 1996a).
The Mexico seminar, for example, provided
the framework for the creation of a network
for the management of green areas in Latin
America and the Caribbean.
It also
facilitated the first postgraduate university
course on arboriculture in Latin America, in
which 83 people participated (IDB 1996b).
This guidebook is a direct product of the
suggestions and revisions on an earlier draft
that was scrutinized during the seminar
workshops. The principal recommendations
from the workshops were as follows:

IDB Participation in Urban Greening

By providing fora for technical experts, the
Inter-American Development Bank hopes to
foster
a
multidisciplinary
working
environment to generate creative urban
greening solutions. Improving the urban
environment and quality of life was a central
focus at the IDB=s 1997 Annual Meeting in
Barcelona, Spain, where more than 700
people attended a two-day seminar on the
importance of environmentally sustainable
cities.
The IDB was also an active
participant at the Second United Nations
Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat
II) held in Istanbul, Turkey in May 1996.
For that event, the Bank and the United
Nations Development Program (UNDP)
published a report on ways to make the
urban environment in Latin America and the
Caribbean more liveable for all socioeconomic groups, in particular via equal
access to urban infrastructure, economic
opportunity and a clean environment (IDBUNDP 1996).

Stress the importance of public participation at all stages.

Promote the creation of an urban

greening resource network for Latin
America and the Caribbean.

Stress the importance of setting

quantitative targets, and monitoring
and evaluation systems.
Integrate greening into other municipal improvement projects, e.g., sanitation, housing and transportation
programs.

In 1995, the IDB sponsored the Sixth

Consultative Meeting on the Environment in
Curitiba, Brazil. This regional conference
drew together representatives of 76
nongovernmental organizations from 23
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean

Facilitate sustainability of investments

for long time horizons (program instead of project approach and financing in phases).

Provide multiple sources of financing

with strong participation of the private sector.

Encourage use of native species and

management for biodiversity objectives.

Eighth General Increase in Resources (IDB

1994a) and the IDB Basic Information
pamphlet (1996b), which stipulate that the
Bank will continue to earmark funds for
urban environmental resources as a
fundamental means of improving the quality
of life in urban centers. In 1996, for
example, the majority of the US$605 million
in environment-related loans went toward
improvements in urban areas (IDB 1997). In
Mexico City, the Bank is currently involved
in a US$200 million ecological conservation
project (IDB 1992). Other IDB-funded
urban development programs with green
area components include: Bogota, Colombia
(IDB 1990); Guatemala City, Guatemala
(IDB 1996d); Port-au-Prince, Haiti (IDB
1986); Quito, Ecuador (IDB 1996); some 20
small towns in Nicaragua (IDB 1996f); Sao
Paulo, Brazil (IDB 1994b) and others.

The Inter-American Development Bank

views urban greening and the environmental
improvement of urban centers in Latin
America as a crucial area for investment
projects. The IDB has led the way by
funding multiple urban development projects
with components of open space management
to promote awareness of the importance of
the topic in the region.
In response to the natural environment needs
of urban centers, the IDB has made a
commitment to fund projects that increase
the number of urban greenspaces and
improve existing ones, as well as integrate a
greening component into urban planning in
general.
This commitment has been
incorporated into the Bank=s mission
statement, evident in both the Report on the

Through
advance
planning,
careful
investment, and attention to the lessons
learned from previous urban greening efforts,
the IDB intends to contribute to securing the
environmental health and natural amenities of
Latin America=s urban centers.

Benefits of Urban Greening

Urban greening offers improvements in air,

water, and land resources by absorbing air
pollutants, increasing water catchment and
floodplain surfaces, and stabilizing soils.
Urban
forests
act
as
temperature
buffersCproviding shade in the summer, and
wind break in the winterCin addition to
reducing noise pollution and CO2 levels, and
providing a habitat for wildlife. The
economic benefits include marketable timber
and agricultural products, as well as a variety
of nontimber forest products such as artisan
wares and honey. Lastly, the overall benefits
to society, particularly to low-income
residents, are significant. They include the
contribution of trees and vegetation to the
mental and physical health of the populace,
and
the
provision
of
recreational
opportunities and an outdoor classroom for
environmental education. In addition, they
provide aesthetic improvements to an
environment otherwise dominated by asphalt
and concrete.

1993). One study rated the air contamination

of Mexico City as the eighth worse in the
world, surpassed only by levels in Beijing,
Calcutta, Delhi, Jakarta, Milan, Shenyang
and Tehran. Suspended particulate matter,
carbon dioxide and ozone are also serious
problems in Sao Paulo (Carter 1993). Those
most affected by such detrimental air
contaminants are children, the elderly and
people with respiratory problems.
Topographical features frequently exacerbate
the hazards of air pollution in certain cities.
The mountains that ring Mexico City and
Santiago, Chile, cause inversions and other
climatological phenomena that worsen air
pollution problems. Therefore, in these cities
an aggressive and multifaceted approach to
combating pollution is all the more urgent.
Using vegetation to reduce air pollution is an
effective technique that also provides other
benefits such as city beautification.
Urban greening can reduce air pollutants to
varying degrees. Air pollution is directly reduced when dust and smoke particles are
trapped by the vegetation. In addition,
plants absorb toxic gases, especially those
from vehicle exhausts, which are a major
component of urban smog (Nowak et al.
1996). Santiago, Chile, which has a serious
air quality problem, has recently named its
urban parks program the ALungs of
Santiago@ to reflect the benefit of urban
vegetation in reducing the city=s air pollution
(See Appendix A, Photo #4).

Environmental Benefits
Air Quality Improvement
While air pollution indices in many cities in
more developed countries have dropped over
the last ten to twenty-five years, air pollution
levels have been rising in cities throughout
much of Latin America and the Caribbean.
In Mexico City, for example, the average
level of particulate suspension in the
atmosphere rose from 65 mg/m3 to
400mg/m3 between 1974 and 1990 (Carter
8

Climate Improvement
One of the most important benefits of urban
vegetation is its impact on the climate. Two
distinct influences can be identified. First,
there is a direct effect on human comfort.
Secondly, there is an effect on the energy
budget of buildings in cities where air-conditioning is used. Both of these effects can be
significant, or negligible, depending on the
size, spacing and design of vegetated areas.

Integrated Air Quality Improvement

Mexico City emits 4,300,000 tons of contami
nants
into the air annually. Its geographic loca
tion in a
valley surrounded by mountains exacer
bates air
pollution by reducing dispersion of the emissions.
Warm winds from the northeast cre
ate thermal
inversions and increase pollution levels further by
trapping contaminants in the valley. In addition,
because the city is 2,200 meters above sea level, the
oxygen content of thecity=s air is approximately 23
percent lower than it would be if the city were at sea
level. Air pollution levels exceed Mexican safety
standards approximately 250 days of the year. In
response to this dire situation, Mexico City officials
are applying four principal strategies to improve the
quality of their air: 1) improving the quality of fuels
used in the city; 2) reorganizing the urban transport
system; 3) mandating emission control systems; and
4) reforesting the city and suburban areas. The IDB
is currently providing partial financing for a
US$200 million Mexico City En
vironmental
Conservation Program with urban and suburban
reforestation components (IDB 1992).

The direct impact on human comfort is one

that every person is familiar with, although it
is hard to quantify. Anyone who has walked
on a city street on a rainy, hot, or windy day
knows from personal experience that trees
can significantly increase human comfort by
influencing the degree of solar radiation, air
movement, humidity and air temperature and
providing protection from heavy rains. Wind
speeds 2 meters above the ground in a
residential neighborhood were shown to
decrease by 60 percent or more in areas of
moderate tree cover compared to open areas
(Heisler 1990). The urban poor in Latin
America and the Caribbean have a further
appreciation for trees for the shelter they can
provide in lieu of a more permanent
structure.

High temperatures accelerate the formation

of smog. The moderating effect that urban
vegetation has on a city=s climate can reduce
temperature extremes and thus reduce this
phenomenon to some degree. Carbon
dioxide is also a major component of air
pollution and is one of the principal causes of
the Agreenhouse effect@ (see Glossary).
Urban vegetation can reduce carbon dioxide
levels in two ways. First, all plants, through
photosynthesis, absorb carbon dioxide
directly into their biomass and release
oxygen in return. Secondly, when extensive
vegetation cover reduces the Aheat island
effect@ in an urban area, residents use fewer
fossil fuels to cool buildings, thereby
reducing power plant emissions of carbon
dioxide (McPherson, E. Gregory et al.,
1994).

Trees and other vegetation can also have an

important impact on the energy budgets of
buildings and, in turn, of entire cities. This
effect is most noticeable in urban centers
with little or no vegetation and extensive
paved areas. Large areas of paved surfaces
dissipate the heat of the sun only very
slowly. This results in the urban heat island
effect where a city heats up rapidly and then
maintains a high temperature. Furthermore,
as city temperatures increase, so too do
airborne pollutants and smog (Kuchelmeister
1991). Studies in Sao Paulo show that the
9

Chicago show that increasing tree cover in

the city by 10 percent may reduce the total
energy used for heating and cooling by 5 to
10 percent (McPherson et al. 1994).

temperature in the concrete-covered center

of the city is consistently several degrees
warmer than in more open and vegetated
outlying areas (See Appendix A, Photo #2).
Akbari et al. (1992) found that tree shade
could reduce the average air temperature in
buildings by as much as five degrees Celsius.

Urban green areas can supply fuelwood and

other substitutes for imported fossil fuels,
thereby providing sources of renewable energy. According to Smit (1996), food
production amounts to approximately 40
percent of the economies of Latin American
cities. Producing it in urban and neighboring
green areas reduces transportation costs to
market. Studies done in the United States
show that it may take seven or eight calories
of fossil fuel for rural agriculture to deliver
one calorie of food energy to the consumer.
Urban agriculture uses only an average of
one calorie of fossil fuel for each food calorie
delivered.

Expanded research is currently being conducted in several climates in the United

States and Puerto Rico through a joint
partnership between Cool Communities (a
research program of American Forests) and
the U.S. Department of Energy. The U.S.
Forest Service is also studying the effects of
vegetation on urban climates as diverse as
Austin, Texas and South Dade County,
Florida. These studies will no doubt be of
benefit to city planners in Latin America and
the Caribbean and in other developing
regions (Nowak et al. 1996).

Another area where large energy savings can

accrue is in waste management. Treating
wastewaters in biological systems (see
discussion above) eliminates the need for
major sewage treatment plants that operate
with costly usage of fuel. Similarly, handling
solid waste at its source in each
neighborhood (using organic wastes for
animal feed, composted fertilizer and mulch
for green areas), reduces the energy costs
associated with trucking it away and treating
it in landfills or elsewhere. Given the large
populations of many of the region=s cities,
these savings can be quite substantial (Smit
1996).

Energy Savings
Various components of an urban greening
program can contribute substantially to
reducing a city=s overall energy budget. As
mentioned
previously,
inner
city
concentrations of pavement and concrete
produce an urban heat island effect that
causes discomfort and health problems,
especially for the poor who cannot afford
air-conditioning. On the other hand, cooling
air-conditioned buildings requires considerable amounts of energy. High electricity
demand during hot months can often cause
Abrownouts@. This can be greatly reduced by
planting substantial amounts of vegetation in
dense downtown areas. To date, the most
extensive studies on the influence that
vegetation has on the energy budget of cities
have been carried out in largely temperate
climates in developed countries. Studies in

Water Supply Catchment Protection

Contaminated water sources and waterborne
diseases cause a high percentage of illness
and death, especially in infants and young
children, throughout Latin America and the
10

Caribbean.
Typically,
the
poorest
communities are hardest hit by the problems
associated with unsanitary water supplies.
One of the significant challenges for city
planners is providing potable water to all the
city=s inhabitants.

1993). In Sao Paulo, Brazil, the statesponsored Projecto SOS Mananciais is

working with poor riverside dwellers to
protect suburban watersheds.

Given the importance of maintaining quality

water supplies, it is imperative that cities
adequately preserve their water supply catchment areas. Determining how the costs of
protecting such areas will be allocated
between urban and rural residents, who both
need and use these resources, is a complex
issue of equity and practicality.

The practice of at least partially treating

wastewater in stabilization ponds has to be
considered an alternative for urban wastewater treatment as much as its economic and
ecological advantages may indicate. Most
cities in the region have significant
wastewater treatment challenges and could
explore whether stabilization ponds,
integrated into park systems, would
economically and ecologically serve some of
their treatment needs.

Wastewater Treatment

Water catchment areas for most cities tend

to be in close proximity to their location and
are often found in the suburbs (defined as
areas of urban sprawl on the perimeter of
urban centers and sometimes referred to as
Aperi-urban@). Cities in the region have
employed a diversity of strategies to protect
the suburban or rural areas that serve as the
source of their water supplies. Since many
of these watersheds are fairly close to the
city=s edge, some of them have inevitably
been depleted or polluted, and those cities
now have to pipe water in from quite a
distance away.

The ponds, rivers and wetlands that become

part of natural wastewater treatment or pretreatment can also serve for recreation,
wildlife habitat, aesthetics and educational
use. Wetlands are among the world=s most
biologically diverse ecosystems. Using
wetland resources for tertiary wastewater
treatment can significantly increase habitats
and enhance the biodiversity of flora and
fauna in and along the waterways.
For example, a multiple-use park system in
Durban, South Africa, uses the park=s retention ponds and artificial wetlands to partially
treat its wastewater. Instead of being
whisked away through concrete channels (as
occurs in many cities), the water entering this
park area slowly passes through a series of
natural watercourses with floodplains and
wetlands. The biological functions and
physical aeration that occur in the water
during the time it spends in these waterways
remove many of the toxic effluents from the
wastewater (ICLEI 1995). These wetlands

One of the principal functions of urban forestry (see Glossary) has been to control erosion and protect the watersheds of urban
water supplies. For example, a major impetus
of forestry in and around Hong Kong in the
1870s, and again in the 1950s, was erosion
control and protection of water catchment
areas so as to ensure a clean, regular water
supply for the urban area. Similar efforts are
being carried out in cities such as Kathmandu
(Nepal), Lima (Peru), Panama City
(Panama), and Kingston (Jamaica) (Braatz
11

are utilized as low cost wastewater treatment

for residents of low-income neighborhoods
close to the park system. In addition, the
waterways that allow these natural
wastewater cleansing processes to occur also
serve the purpose of flood prevention.

woodlots and as drinking water for livestock

(UNDP 1996). This reuse of city water
supplies not only recharges the aquifer, it
also reduces the demand on scarce water
reserves.
An innovative way to purify wastewater is
through the use of duckweed. This prolific
plant can completely purify wastewater in 20
days, doubles its weight in two to four days
and can yield as much as ten times the
amount of protein of soya beans. It has been
used in the United States for water
purification since 1985 and is sold as a cash
crop and as fish feed.
Israel exports
duckweed as an exotic salad crop to
European health food stores. Not only does
this weed clean wastewaters that need to be
treated anyway, it also is a good cash crop
for animal feed or human consumption. In
experiments in Bangladesh, farmers are
harvesting about one ton of duckweed per
hectare per day and earning more than
US$2,000 a year. Clearly, this is an alternative worth exploring to treat wastewater
(UNDP 1996).

Wastewaters in the upper parts of the

Bogota River watershed are being treated by
22 plants in small municipalities (IDB 1990).
Adequately analyzed urban runoff waters
may be sent to suburban agricultural fields to
be used in irrigation, providing needed
nutrients for the crops (see Appendix A,
Photo 3). Similarly, the University of the
West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica, is
experimenting with the school=s wastewater
by sending it through lily ponds to be
purified, then applying it as irrigation water
on university grounds and in vegetable gardens. In both instances, wastewater is essentially recycled into food production, creating
a more holistic, integrated system within a
city=s bioregion.
There are several alternatives to wastewater
treatment and disposal that can incorporate
green areas of various types. The water can
be used to irrigate urban and suburban
agriculture and forests, horticultural projects
(such as flowers for export), city landscaping
and parks, and tree farms. All of these
options provide for a safe and productive
means of wastewater disposal (Braatz 1993).
In arid and semi-arid regions this practice
can also recharge groundwater reserves. For
example, wastewater reuse is especially
important in Lima, Peru, an extremely arid
city.
Since 1969, the city has used
stabilization ponds to hold wastewater from
some 150,000 residents, returning the treated
water to those communities to use for
irrigating food crops and fruit trees, to water

When using wastewater for irrigation purposes, city planners need to coordinate with
environment officials to avoid potential
health risks to farmers and consumers. For
example, Santiago, Chile, has had laws
regulating sewage irrigation since 1941 but
they were not strictly enforced. As a result,
when there was a cholera outbreak in 1992,
raw contaminated sewage was applied to
vegetable crops and the disease was thus
spread to consumers. Consequently, the
government had to bulldoze several thousand
hectares of vegetable crops and relocate
farming activities to areas with a safe supply
of irrigation water. Such severe measures
can be avoided if wastewater is properly
12

Green Space and Flood Control

in Curitiba, Brazil

handled and continually monitored.

Recycling wastewaters into green areas deserves thoughtful consideration by the
region=s city planners. Recycling wastewater
into parks or forested, farmed and degraded
lands may also be more economical than
finding ways to dispose of it somewhere else.
A new computer program offers an
exhaustive exploration of wastewater
treatment alternatives that can help define
the most appropriate system for a given set
of circumstances. The program takes into
account the resources and constraints of
each particular city and can aid city planners
in designing the system best suited to their
needs and budgets (Gearheart et al, 1994).

The IguaHu River and a number of its natural feeder

springs run through the city ofCuritiba. When the
city was smaller and less developed, the annual
flooding of the river and its tributaries during the
rainy season was manageable. With a rapid growth
rate and a population of more than 1.6 million,
Curitiba started to experience problems:
development and encroachment on the floodplain
put businesses and lives at stake. Un
fortunately,
engineering strategies using diver
sion and
channeling provedineffectiveConly transferring the
flooding risk to other inhabited areas. City planners
decided to try reclaiming the floodplain through the
creation of recreational green spaces. In a crosssectoral effort, zoning laws were changed to limit
subdivisions, construction of homes and roads, and
to expropriate land for the creation of several parks
and artificial lakes. The result is a system of green
spaces and low density development that provides
effective flood protection and has be
come the city=s
principal recreational area. Tlaiye
(
& Biller 1994).

Flood Control
Floods cause considerable damage in Latin
America and the Caribbean every year. Buenos Aires suffered over US$200 million in
flood damages in 1985. Estimates of 1993
flood damages from the Mississippi and
Missouri Rivers (USA) have been calculated
to be in the realm of US$10 billion. Chile
has suffered serious floods throughout the
country in the last ten years.

the hardest hit, with limited access to

schools, health facilities and basic sanitation
for months thereafter.
Using wetlands and parks as important
components of a city=s flood control system
is not only recommended but is quite
feasible. By locating city parks and green
spaces in the flood plains of rivers, streams
or other drainage systems, planners can
increase the permeable surface area available
for catchment, reduce flow rates (compared
to nonvegetated surfaces such as asphalt),
and avoid damage to buildings or settlements
that might have otherwise been constructed
in the area. This has been the case, for
example, in Bogota, Colombia (IDB 1990).
Green areas can also mitigate flood damage
simply by increasing the permeable surface
area in a watershed, thereby decreasing

In 1988, floods in Rio de Janeiro left 289

people dead, 734 injured, 18,560 homeless,
and an estimated US$945 million in damages
(Bernstein 1994). The damage included destruction of roads, bridges, canals, drainage
networks, dikes, water and sewage
networks, electric power systems, factories,
residences and commercial establishments.
In addition, there were the added costs of
interrupted economic activity, lost revenues
from tourism, and cleanup expenses (in this
case, US$50 million). The flood in Rio left
the predominantly low-income population
13

Santiago and Rio de Janeiro have also been

rated as some of the worst in the region.

runoff rates and abating peak flow levels.

Interference with other park uses (such as
recreation) only occurs in the short periods
that the park=s wetlands and floodplains are
actually flooded.

Trees and vegetation can help reduce noise

pollution in five important ways: by sound
absorption (sound is transferred to some
other object), deflection (the direction of
sound is altered), reflection (sound is
bounced back to its source), refraction
(sound waves bend around an object) and
masking (unwanted sound is covered up with
more pleasing sounds). Thus, leaves, twigs
and branches will absorb sound, as will
grasses and other herbaceous plants. Tree or
plant barriers will deflect sound away from
listeners and, if at right angles to the source,
will reflect it back to that source. If the
noise passes through and around the
vegetation, it is being refracted and thereby
dissipated. Vegetation can also mask sounds
to the extent that people will filter out
unwanted noise by selectively listening to the
sounds of nature (bird songs, leaves rustling,
etc.) over the sounds of the city (Miller
1988).

Some cities, such as Durban, South Africa,

have pioneered urban greening flood control.
The Durban park system is used to retain
storm runoff waters in upland ponds and
marshes and in downstream wetlands (ICLEI
1995). In Tulsa, Oklahoma (USA), the park
service has selected certain tree species that
can survive standing water for up to a week
or more and has planted them in parks
designed for flood control. The city of
Curitiba, Brazil, which in the past
experienced frequent flood damage, has used
urban greening to reverse that trend. Almost
all of Curitiba=s city parks created since the
1980s have a lake in the middle for flood
control purposes, and old sand and clay
mines have likewise been turned into lakes
and parks.
Noise Abatement

Particularly advantageous to humans is the

fact that plants absorb high frequency noises
better than lower ones, since higher
frequency noises are most distressing to
people. The optimum planting design to
lessen noise pollution is dense vegetative
cover in a range of heights. Such green
barriers can be established throughout Latin
America and the Caribbean along major
highways and on the boundaries of noisy
industrial and commercial corridors.

Noise often reaches consistently unhealthy

levels in large cities in Latin America. Poor
populations living close to heavy industry,
commercial and traffic corridors often get
exposed to the highest levels. To make matters worse, the building materials used in
low-income neighborhoods do not insulate
the residents from noise as well as the more
substantial materials frequently used in
wealthier neighborhoods. Mexico City has a
consistent noise level of around 75 decibels
(the equivalent of listening to an alarm clock
or a police whistle), which often reaches 100
decibels (which can cause ear damage) close
to major highways and the city=s airport
(Carter 1993). Noise pollution levels in

Erosion Control
Many large cities in the region are located
below, on or above steep hills and
mountains, or on coastal slopes. Given the
14

general lack of vegetative cover and the hard

seasonal rains most of these cities
experience, erosion and landslides have
become common occurrences.
Informal
settlements are hit especially hard by
landslides, as they are most often built on
marginal slopes. Because of the potential for
loss of life and property that eroded embankments represent, many countries enacted
legislation long ago to prevent urban
development on excessively steep hills. For
example, sections of the Brazilian Forest
Law of 1959 specifically address this issue.

accumulates in vacant lots and alleys or

adorns the slopes of gullies and urban
riverbanks.
Urban greening can help abate the solid
waste disposal dilemma. Many forms of
waste and nutrient recycling exist and are
already in use in other parts of the world.
For example, Asian countries have
developed Aclosed loop@ cycles wherein
organic wastes are used to feed chickens,
pigs and livestock; settling pond sludge is
used for agricultural fertilizer; and
wastewaters are recycled into irrigation for
aquaculture and agriculture.
In Latin
America and the Caribbean, a few wastewater recycling systems for irrigation are
already operational, notably in Lima, Peru,
and Bogota, Colombia.
Bogota is
constructing systems to treat slaughterhouse
wastes and 25 sanitary landfills for the final
disposal of solid waste in the metropolitan
area (IDB 1990).

In Bogota, Colombia, an environmental rehabilitation project includes the reforestation of

4,450 hectares in the watershed of the
Bogota River, and reducing erosion and
sedimentation over about 6,800 hectares
(IDB 1990). The planning authority in Rio
de Janeiro estimates that three million people
(nearly two-thirds of Rio=s favela dwellers)
live on the steep hills surrounding the city
(Bernstein 1994). Mud slides at the end of
the rainy season are a constant threat to
people=s lives and homes there.
Development on high- risk sites, combined
with little vegetative cover, increases
susceptibility to the landslides that often
follow heavy rains (Bernstein, 1994). Much
of that risk can be reduced by planting hardy
species to hold eroding soil on steep slopes.

Composting is another viable alternative to

waste removal. Organic materials in a city=s
waste stream can be composted to produce
quality soil amendments while at the same
time reducing the volume of urban refuse and
thus the city=s waste disposal expenses. An
example of an effective composting system
can be found in Milwaukee, Wisconsin
(USA). The city=s sewage goes to a special
treatment facility that turns it into a soil
amendment called Milorganite which is
highly valued by gardeners and farmers and
is very cost effective for the municipality. A
sizeable element in many solid waste disposal
sites is tree prunings and other plant
trimmings that can be used as fertilizer or
mulch. In poor developing countries, such
refuse may have a high value as fuel and
fodder.

Solid Waste and Land Reclamation

Solid waste disposal in most large cities has
become a serious and permanent problem.
While some cities have managed to keep
pace with their growing populations, the
majority suffer from significant garbage
dilemmas, especially in and around informal
settlements. Quite often, a substantial
percentage of a city=s solid waste
15

biological diversity can be found in Bogota,

Colombia, where an environmental project is
managing irrigation waters and cropping
patterns to allow water levels to be restored
in the Herrera Lagoon, a wetland of
enormous biological wealth and the last
vestige of the prehistoric Humboldt Lake
(IDB 1990).

Unused or degraded lands can be reclaimed

through urban greening activities. The idea
of creating parks over terminated landfills
seems to be rapidly gaining popularity in
Latin America.
Brazil and Chile have
implemented very successful landfill-to-park
conversions. By planting vegetation over
landfills or other reclamation sites, a city can
effectively cover an eyesore and add more
vegetation to its park system. For example,
in San JosJ, Costa Rica, a former airport
overtaken by urban growth was converted
into a huge city park, complete with lakes,
swimming pools, a gymnasium, basketball
courts and a host of other recreational
amenities. On any given day of the year, this
park is crowded with city dwellers enjoying
hundreds of acres of reclaimed land.

On a larger scale, urban greening can create

or restore biological diversity that will
reconnect a city to its surrounding bioregion.
Cities are built in an existing ecosystem and
often destroy it. The flora and fauna that
once lived in that system are either
destroyed, displaced or have to adapt to the
new urban environment.
This process
seriously depletes a region=s genetic diversity
(both plant and animal) and can threaten
with extinction some species that are
essential to the area=s natural ecosystem and
consequently to the resident human population.

Wildlife Habitat and Biodiversity

Urban green areas have been found to
provide habitats for a surprising number of
species and for large populations of birds and
animals. Most urban residents are familiar
with at least some local species of birds and
animals that have adjusted to urban
conditions. Where more parks and
vegetation exist, local and migrating species
can find suitable habitats.

Incorporating green areas throughout a city

can reverse the trend of biological
destruction. For example, greenbelts and
greenways (see Glossary) can provide
biological corridors for wide-ranging species
of plants and animals from the surrounding
bioregion, allowing them areas large enough
to disperse their genetic material, a process
crucial to species survival. Urban agriculture
can also provide biodiversity on a small but
important scale. Diversity protects wild and
domestic species from adverse conditions
(including natural and economic fluctuations)
and thus ensures survival.

In particular, suburban wetlands may offer

some of the world=s most productive natural
ecosystems as transitional areas between terrestrial and aquatic environments (Bernstein
1994). Wetlands that are incorporated into
urban greening projects, including those designed or maintained for flood control and
wastewater treatment settling ponds, provide
particularly important habitats for local and
migrating fauna contributing to maintaining a
healthy biodiversity in the area. An example
of preserving and enhancing wetlands for
16

work at semiskilled jobs (ibid.).

Material Benefits

Where available, small gardening plots can

help urban growers, especially the poor, to
provide food for their own families, and thus
reduce drains on their already scarce
financial resources or on strapped
government subsidy programs. Container
horticulture (in boxes, rain gutters, pots,
used tires and even plastic bags) is also a
popular alternative for low-income families
without access to land. In Mexico City, for
example, the city=s agricultural department is
assisting rooftop gardeners to produce cacti
for salads and as a cash crop (UNDP 1996).
Similarly, low-income rooftop and pavement
gardeners in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, are using
shallow beds with three to five inches of
composted materials to grow vegetables for
food and market (ibid). Studies have shown
that these household farming systems can
provide one-tenth to one-third of a family=s
annual vegetable consumption. In addition,
these gardeners eat more vegetables and
their families are healthier than other
comparable low-income families (ibid).

Food and Agricultural Products

Farmers, from backyard gardeners to low-income market farmers to multinational
corporations, raise food and cash crops on
urban lands in Latin America and the
Caribbean. Smit et al. (1996) cite surveys
that found that from 28 percent to 80
percent of urban households in developing
countries practice some form of urban
agriculture. Jac Smit, President of the
Urban Agriculture Network (USA) estimates
that in Latin America 25 percent to 75
percent of all urban families raise some food
in green spaces, depending on the availability
of plots, and the local climate and culture
(Smit 1996). Urban farmers maintain open
spaces and transform urban waste into food
and biodiversity, thereby saving the
municipality the expense of landscape
maintenance and waste management (ibid).
Virtually every major city in the region has at
least one central market, or one to several
farmers= markets, where local growers can
sell their products to the general public.
Many of these farmers grow their produce
within the urban or suburban area and make
a significant contribution to the feeding of
the urban population. Their proximity to
markets gives them a competitive advantage
through lower transportation and storage
costs. Furthermore, farmers can tailor their
production to meet market demand for highvalue perishable items (UNDP 1996). In
JerusalJn (a suburb of Bogota), Colombia, a
cooperative of more than 100 low-income
women produces hydroponic vegetables on
rooftops to supply a metropolitan
supermarket chain. They are earning up to
three times more than their husbands who

The value of providing green areas and other

facilities or services to urban growers has not
been lost on the city planners of ViZa del
Mar, Chile. A municipal program there gives
seeds and technical assistance to families to
encourage them to plant their own gardens.
In another innovative project in Arlington,
Virginia (USA), residents can apply for and
plant food on community garden land
located in the wide medians of the city=s
highways.
This program has the dual
purpose of food production and citizen
maintenance of the medians, both costsaving measures for the municipality. In
Lima, Peru, a division of the Ministry of
Agriculture cooperates with 100 other
17

agencies and institutions (including a prison

and several NGOs) to promote urban
agriculture. Its programs benefit more than
220,000 people through 44,500 farmers in
33 towns in the Lima, Cuzco and Piura
districts. A particularly successful aspect of
its programs is the community kitchens run
by women in poor communities who raise
vegetables and livestock on government land
to supply the kitchens (UNDP 1996). (See
Appendix A, Photo #5.)

towns where fence poles are more commonly

used to surround livestock or cultivated
plots. Poles are also used in construction,
furniture making and crafts.
There are many species of trees adapted to
urban and suburban growing conditions,
such as Leucaena leucocephala, that provide
high quality fodder for livestock. Similarly, a
large percentage of urban dwellers,
especially the poor, use firewood as their
primary cooking and heating fuel and depend
on nearby green areas for their source of
wood.
Urban greening can provide
sustainable fuelwood plantings to meet the
needs of these urban residents.

A good example of urban agriculture that

combines production, marketing and recreation can be found in Xochimilco Park in
Mexico City. The ancient Aztec system of
chinampas (floating beds of woven mats
covered with mud and then planted) has been
revived and they are now used for livestock,
poultry, vegetables, ornamental plants,
flowers and trees. The canals between the
chinampas provide irrigation, transportation,
aquaculture, recreation and tourism. A
flower market has been built within easy
access of the area.
Extensionists in
Xochimilco Park are teaching neighborhood
residents to work in apiculture and
encouraging beekeeping in the park (UNDP
1996). Such integrated systems of urban
agriculture are beneficial to growers,
consumers and the city itself in meeting both
the supply and demand for food as well as
providing other amenities.

Fruits, nuts and fiber are some of the other

forest products that are valued and harvested
in urban and suburban green areas. Most
trees that provide these useable products are
found in private patios and gardens and not
in public. Traditionally, the criteria for
selecting species for standard horticultural
plantings in urban areas have stressed
ornamental value over the value of material
products that could be harvested from the
vegetation. While fruit trees and other
species that provide material benefits are
frequently highly valued in private lots, the
great majority of species selected for use on
public lands are ornamentals. Their products
are rarely factored into their selection.
Often, the ornamental and status value of a
landscape plant appears to be enhanced by
the plant being useless for practical purposes
and exotic in origin. On a practical note,
ornamentals are less subject to damage and
theft than are fruit trees or other beneficial
species and there may be an element of costsaving objectives by municipal planners when
choosing which species to plant in public

Forest Products and Fodder

Urban greening can provide significant material benefits in areas where poles, firewood
and fodder are in high demand. Tree species
that produce poles for fence posts are highly
valued, especially in arid regions of where
low cost fencing materials are scarce. This is
especially true in suburban areas and small
18

green areas.

Urban forests provide a connection between

people and their natural environment that
would otherwise be missing in a city. This
connection is important for everyday enjoyment, worker productivity and general
mental health (Nowak et al 1996). Shade
from trees and the resulting cooler
temperatures, especially in the summer,
explain why people tend to flock to city
parks and green spaces to spend time
together during both the weekends and
during the week. Thus, they also serve a
very important social function. Shade also
reduces ultraviolet light exposure thereby
lowering the risks of harmful health effects
such as skin cancer and cataracts (Heisler et
al. 1995). In sum, urban forests supply
numerous direct and indirect physical and
mental health benefits to a city=s population.

Social Benefits
Health
Although they may be difficult to quantify,
the benefits of urban greening to human
Tree Preferences in Quito
The experience ofFundaci\n Natura, an NGO in
Quito, Ecuador, has shown that residents of low
income barrios strongly prefer plants that pro
duce
economic benefits over purely ornamental ones.
Neighborhood meetings plus a local survey re
vealed that aplant=s ornamental value alone was
insufficient to interest locals in dedicating time and
effort to its care. The NGO discovered that plants
that provided medicinal products, hedges, and
edible fruits were most successful. Some of the
preferred species wereRubus prasina (raspberry)
and Prunus serotina (cherry). Residents valued
raspberry bushes for their edible fruit and
usefulness as a dense and spiny hedge. Cherry was
valued for its edible fruit and wood for construction
and firewood (Cobo & Sullivan 1996).

Employment
Another important aspect of urban greening
is the jobs provided for poor, skilled and unskilled laborers. Urban greening projects are
often labor-intensive and provide both initial
start-up jobs (soil preparation, planting, etc.)
as well as more permanent employment
(maintenance, management, etc.). For example, a forestry component of Mexico City=s
urban greening program will require
extensive use of unskilled labor. Project
managers have estimated that the program
will need approximately 3,380 workers to
produce and transport plants, 3,700 working
in the plantations, 800 in management and
more than 100 for protection and
surveillance in existing green areas (IDB
1992).

health can be considerable. Certainly,

improvements in air quality due to vegetation
have positive impacts on physical health with
such obvious benefits as decreases in
respiratory illnesses. Perhaps less obvious,
however, is the fact that urban forests also
reduce stress and improve health by
contributing to an aesthetically pleasing and
relaxing environment (Nowak et al. 1996).
Ulrich (1990) found that convalescing
hospital patients recuperated significantly
faster when placed in rooms with views of
trees and outdoor settings than patients without such views.

19

Recreation

industrial laborers and chauffeurs.

Green areas provide recreational sites, especially for lower income residents who tend to
frequent city parks more than wealthier citizens because of financial constraints and
restrictions on leisure time. This, of course,
depends on two conditions: first, the park
must be within an affordable traveling
distance for the individual or family; and
second, it must have the amenities those
people prefer. In Latin America and the
Caribbean, the preferred activities tend to be
barbecuing, playing soccer or volleyball,
walking or just enjoying the natural
surroundings. (See Appendix A, Photo #6.)
In Mexico City, the centrally located
Chapultepec Park draws up to three million
visitors a week who enjoy a wide variety of
recreational activities (Gonzalez 1996).

Volunteers have donated their labor and

materials to develop this recreational outlet
which, in turn, benefits Bogota with its many
green acres and wetlands. (IDB 1990).
Education
Parks and other green areas also provide
educational opportunities for urban residents.
Many cities in Latin America boast botanical
gardens, zoos, nature trails and even visitor
information centers that can inform residents
and tourists alike about the area=s flora and
fauna.
Individuals, families and school
groups can take advantage of a city=s green
areas to learn about the environment and
natural processes. For urban children, as
well as adult students, the learning
experiences available in urban parks may be
some of the few opportunities they have to
learn about nature through first-hand
experience. Moreover, by getting the public
involved in educational activities associated
with urban green spaces, planners can raise
the consciousness of the public concerning
the importance of these spaces.

The urban poor generally have few

affordable options for recreation, and thus
place a high value on green areas.
Nevertheless, their preferred recreational
activities may vary from city to city, or even
among neighborhoods. Therefore, research
or social surveys about their preferences
should be considered as a tool to help city
planners design appropriate new green areas.
For example, Brasilia was planned more
according to central European than Latin
American criteria. It does not have the
traditional central area, or plaza central,
where people can meet to socialize, go for a
stroll, or sit in the shade to chat.

Another way to educate the public on the

importance and benefits of urban greening is
to involve people in the greening process
itself. Examples of this can be found
throughout Latin America. In Sao Paulo,
Brazil, Projecto Frutificar made use of the
city=s environmental secretariat to distribute
2000 trees to every elementary school in the
urban area. Each child then received at least
one tree in a folder to take home to plant in
the yard. The project=s objective is for the
children to educate and motivate their
families about the need to participate in the
city=s environmental programs. Similarly, a

On the outskirts of Bogota, Colombia, a

group of low- to middle-income volunteers
cooperatively developed a golf course for
recreation and finance its maintenance.
Membership fees are affordable enough to
accommodate modest wage earners such as
20

municipal tree program in ViZa del Mar,

Chile, provides seedlings of native tree
species to classes for planting on school
grounds.

Another advantage of aesthetically pleasing

green areas is their positive effect on
property values. When unsightly vacant lots
or garbage dumps are replaced by attractive
parks, not only does the residents= quality of
life improve, but the value of their property
increases. In addition, rehabilitating lands
with vegetation is often more attractive and
cost-effective than constructing new
buildings on them.

Aesthetics
While not considered as important as filling
basic needs such as food and shelter, the aesthetics of green areas can also be very meaningful to many urban residents. There are
many examples of civic groups sponsoring
the planting of trees to improve the
aesthetics of key parts of their cities in order
to increase civic pride. Vegetation reduces
sun glare and reflection, complements
architectural features and tones down the
harshness of large expanses of concrete.

Urban greenery, used as a boundary line, can

improve the aesthetics of small private landholdings in urban or suburban areas. One of
the most common sights in Latin America
and the Caribbean is the home dwelling,
however rich or poor, bordered by hedges of
greenery, flower pots or food plantings. On
large areas of municipal lands, such borders
may be maintained through community
efforts by nearby residents who value the
green areas and join their efforts in order to
protect them.

Areas of a cities with enough greenery to be

aesthetically pleasing, are attractive to residents and investors alike. The beautification
of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,
was one of the factors that attracted
significant foreign investment that assisted
those cities= rapid economic growth (Braatz
1993). In the Black Country district of
England, (a region with a legacy of derelict,
polluted lands left from the Industrial
Revolution), urban greening is focused along
roadways and railway lines in an attempt to
improve the area=s image and attract
investment (Jones 1995). (See also Appendix
A, Photo #7.)

The range of benefits that urban greening

provides is both practical and comprehensive
and addresses many of the social,
environmental and economic problems most
cities face. Though not the panacea for
every current urban ill, urban greening
nonetheless can significantly treat a great
many of them and create a much more
salutary and desirable environment in which
to live.

21

Challenges Facing Urban Greening

Several recurrent obstacles stand in the way

of the planning and execution of more green
areas in urban landscapes. The first major
challenge is getting city officials, businesses
and the public to include the real benefits of
urban greening when making capital investment decisions based on cost benefit
analyses. Although the benefits described in
the previous section are very real, they are
often overlooked in traditional accounting
comparisons.

Economic Valuation for

Urban Greening
Placing a value on the city=s green resources
is one of the most significant challenges that
city planners may encounter when
implementing an urban greening program.
While there are obvious costs involved in the
establishment and upkeep of green areas, it is
difficult to calculate the value of all the
benefits associated with that area. It may also
be difficult to avoid double counting benefits
if several assessment methods are used
independently to estimate a variety of
benefits from the green areas.

Developing institutional capacity, using

appropriate technology and securing
sustainable funding from a variety of sources
are also crucial yet elusive goals. Another
important challenge is maximizing public
participation at all levels of project
implementation, and breaking down the
barriers that prevent this, including lack of
land tenure, inequality in participation
between the sexes, and outdated legislation.
Finally, planners face the hurdle of greening
areas that have experienced moderate to
severe environmental degradation. Overcoming this problem may require a multi-tiered
approach involving cooperation with other
government sectors to reduce deleterious
impacts, land reclamation and strict
monitoring procedures. This chapter
describes these challenges in more detail
using examples from case studies to illustrate
the importance of overcoming such barriers
to success.

Green areas provide a range of tangible,

easily valued benefits such as food, fuel and
fodder from agricultural plots, but they also
provide intangible yet valuable amenities
such as aesthetics and noise reduction. How
can city administrators value such multiple
and diverse benefits and then compare them
to benefits from other projects with more
easily calculated costs and benefits? How
does one place an economic value on
something intangible? Can non-market
benefits and ecological services be measured
in the same units as market goods?
If the government were willing to put land in
green areas up for bid, with the restriction
that it could only be used for urban greening
purposes, the highest bid might be used as
the economic value of green space.
Equivalently, if the government acted as if it
were a private developer, it could achieve
22

compared to some generally accepted Abest

practice@ standard. This approach might be
useful in designing plantings along highways
and industrial and commercial corridors to
reduce noise pollution by a specified amount,
for example.

the same outcome by calculating the cash

result of using the land in different green
activities and choosing the most profitable.
These procedures would be reasonable if the
bids or the government=s calculations
reflected
all
costs
and
benefits.
Unfortunately, this is not likely to be the
case. With the exception of the goods
produced by urban agriculture, many of the
goods and services provided by urban
greening activities produce no cash revenues.
They produce public goods (cleaner air, a
prettier view, a quieter environment) that are
enjoyed by many, but that cannot be charged
to each user since people cannot be excluded
from enjoying them.

If the several options achieve different

degrees of objective attainment at different
costs, a mere cost-effectiveness comparison
of, say, the decibel reduction achieved per
unit of monetary cost or the incremental
costs of getting additional decibel reduction
from increasingly expensive options does not
tell us which alternative to select, or even
admit the possibility of not undertaking the
program. The benefit flows must be
monetized in order to identify the socially
preferred option, the one with the greatest
positive net present value (i.e., greatest
positive difference between discounted
benefits and discounted costs). If the net
present value of all proposals is negative, and
the decisionmaker is confident that all
benefits have been properly valued, the
public program should not be supported.
Moving to a social cost-benefit analysis
complicates matters, but provides an answer
to the question of whether an urban greening
activity is worth doing, when all benefits and
all costs (private and social, tangible and
intangible) are included.1

Economic analysis of urban greening

initiatives is particularly relevant when
sizeable tracts of urban land are involved.
Such land has high value in private use
because it can yield commercial and
residential services that are precluded when
the land is set aside for urban greening. The
loss must be compared to the gain.
Furthermore, the government will incur large
recurrent costs maintaining the greening
activities. It is important to demonstrate that
greening benefits (e.g., aesthetic improvements, wildlife habitat provision, etc.) more
than offset the opportunity and cash flow
costs of maintaining space as green areas.
Thus, urban greening projects should be
considered public investment projects and
should be evaluated using economic analysis
criteria.

The benefits of some urban greening

activities can be measured in a
straightforward way. For example, the direct
gross benefit of urban agriculture can be
approximated using the market value of

If benefits are hard or expensive to quantify,

or if the particular urban greening objective
is specified in law or zoning regulations, a
simple cost-effectiveness analysis (Savedoff
1994) could be used. If there is only one
alternative, its local cost per unit could be

Freeman (1979, 1993) provides a definitive, in-depth

treatment of benefit estimation methods for
environmental and resource problems. Also see
Markandya (1991) for a review of benefit methods in
the context of the types of projects the IDB finances.

23

product outputs (quantities multiplied by

market prices). Flood control benefits can be
estimated as the value of damages avoided
to property and the loss of profits arising
from the temporary disruption of commercial
activity.

sample of visitors to an existing site (that is

similar to the new, proposed site) will generally fall as travel cost rises. Assuming that
visitors would react to a hypothetical fee in
the same way they react to actual out-ofpocket travel expenses allows the analyst to
derive a demand curve (price-quantity
relationship) from the travel cost data. The
total willingness to pay (gross benefit) is the
area under the curve. This relationship
breaks down for small urban parks where
travel distances are short, or for new parks
that do not have an existing close substitute
for comparison. A less satisfactory approach
is to multiply the expected number of annual
visits to the park by user day values per visit,
based on expert judgement or averages of
values reported in a large number of
individual studies. Such values may not exist
for much of Latin America.

The replacement cost method is a roughand-ready means of assessment that provides

an upper bound for non-market benefits.
This technique assumes a good or service is
worth whatever it would cost to get the
same benefit in the least expensive alternative
way. In other words, the value is based on
what a substitute would cost. For example,
the city of Chicago, Illinois (USA) has sued
the city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin (USA) for
polluting the waters of Lake Michigan and
affecting Chicago. Consequently, Milwaukee
is spending $2.3 billion on a deep tunnel
water system to contain runoff waters until
they can be treated and released into the lake
again. The cost of this tunnel system is the
replacement cost of a natural wastewater
system of wetlands and ponds that the city
could have incorporated into its land use
plans decades ago. Another example of
replacement costs can be found with the
Lemna Corporation of the United States
which processes wastewater in nine of its
facilities using duckweed. The company
calculates that this process is 50 to 75
percent less expensive than competing
technologies, thus giving a concrete value to
the duckweed technique (UNDP 1996).
Similarly, reforesting a degraded watershed
would save on the cost of dredging the
yearly sediment from erosion.

Air pollution reduction benefits have often

been obtained by applying a hedonic model
that statistically captures the relationship
between property values and the characteristics of the housing unit and the surrounding
neighborhood. Neighborhood characteristics
can include particulate and sulphur dioxide
concentrations, traffic noise and other
ambient quality measures. The estimated
increase in property value resulting from
decreases in one or more air pollutants
brought about by an urban greening effort is
a proxy for the expected benefits.
Other kinds of benefits are quite difficult to
quantify in money terms, particularly the
value of habitat preservation for biodiversity,
and general aesthetic improvements. In such
cases, and even for water quality
improvement
projects
using
natural
wastewater treatment, the logical alternative
is contingent valuation. Analogous to a

The recreational benefits of public parks that

attract visitors from near and far can be approximated using a travel cost model. The
number of trips taken over a season by a
24

market research survey for a new product,

this approach asks survey respondents how
much they would be willing to pay for a
hypothetical improvement or bundle of
improvements in environmental quality that
an urban greening program could provide.

values.
Institutional Challenges
Urban greening is, by definition, an
integrated process that requires a high level
of institutional capability to plan, execute
and maintain green areas throughout a city
and its environs. Both Latin America and
the Caribbean have a long history of
bureaucratic obstacles to new initiatives, as
experienced by urban greening officials in
Mexico City who have had to contend with
slow, unclear or overly restrictive bidding
procedures that have delayed their planting
schedule.

Urban greening provides a number of

valuable yet intangible benefits that are
difficult to price. Examples of such economic
advantages are the health benefits derived
from cleaner air and water, a better quality of
life due to an improved climate, increased
commercial and housing development in
aesthetically attractive areas, improved
agricultural production using wastewaters,
and several other such amenities. All these
non-market benefits have clear economic
advantages for a city and need to be
quantified as well as possible given current
economic methods.

Governmental Capacity. Among the institutional obstacles to overcome is a general lack

of coordination between the various levels of
government, i.e., federal, state and local. For
example, municipal environmental officials in
Bogota,
Colombia,
stated
that
responsibilities are often unclear among the
various levels of authorities. The situation
has been exacerbated by the rapid pace with
which
Colombia
has
decentralized
governmental responsibilities over the last
decade. Many municipal authorities have
been left unsure about which environmental
responsibilities are theirs.

In summary, valuation techniques for green

resources are still being developed and
tested. Each city in the region will need to
explore how to quantify and monetize
(where possible) their particular resources
when making decisions about an urban
greening program. When urban greening
activities are included as components of
larger urban improvement programs, it is
important that they also be subjected to
technical and economic analyses. It is not
advisable to include them in the program
without any scrutiny just because the benefits
from the project as a whole are sufficient to
indirectly subsidize urban greening expenses.
When real resources are invested in public
programs in countries that are not affluent, it
is not sufficient to invoke the argument of
implicit merit to justify greening activitiesC
proof is needed to confirm that these
projects respond to citizens= preferences and

As with any municipal project, urban

greening initiatives must be carried out under
the reigning policies and regulations of the
public institutions that govern them. In the
case of government ministries, those policies
may change with each successive political
election. Thus, a current administration=s
emphasis on environmental sustainability
may not continue if the opposition wins the
next election.

25

environmental education are all tasks left for

the local governments.
While many
municipalities may not be equipped
institutionally to undertake all these tasks,
sharing
information
and
combining
workforces among nearby municipalities may
offer at least a partial solution to the problem
of limited resources.

Nevertheless, strong institutional support is

central to the process of providing useful and
sustainable green spaces to urban areas. The
question then is what kind of institutional
capacity does a municipality need in order to
achieve its greening goals? To make the
most efficient use of limited resources,
institutional support needs to be partitioned
among national, regional/state and local
governments. The challenge is to get the
national government to provide services such
as policy guidelines for planning, monitoring,
environmental regulation and agricultural
extension services. National governments
can also be instrumental in directing both
universities and NGOs in their research
efforts, participation in planning process, and
development of environmental education
materials.

Technical Capacity. In addition to internal

governmental encumbrances, city, state and
local institutions must contend with a lack of
skilled technicians in the various fields of
knowledge that urban greening encompasses.
As mentioned previously, a comprehensive
urban greening program would likely involve
information and experience in the fields of
sociology, hydrology, psychology, geology,
economics, horticulture, forestry, landscape
architecture, public administration and soil
science, among others. It is unlikely that
individual city administrations would have
very many of these technicians available.
They would need to seek outside consultants
or experts to assist in planning sessions or
train administrators in whatever field is
necessary for them to efficiently do their
work.

Zulauf
(1996)
suggests
that
the
responsibilities of regional/state governments
might be to develop more specific policies
that complement the national ones, but refer
to individual projects. Some Brazilian state
governments with efficient means of taxation
established urban forest funds. These funds
were distributed to municipalities for the
creation of green spaces with economic
benefits such as firewood or agricultural
products (ibid). It also makes sense that
regional/state governments provide a portion
of the agricultural and forestry extension
services, since local governments might not
have adequate access to research and
development facilities, and since the
geographic and economic conditions are
likely to be more homogenous at the
state/provincial level than at the national
level.

Finally, many municipal governments do not

coordinate with local or community
organizations that could assist them in
managing green areas. In some cases, the
impediment is a lack of well-organized local
groups to work with or the lack of strong
administrative or managerial skills among
existing groups.
Financial Sustainability
Securing the funds for the creation or extension of a green area can be a difficult task,
especially in a developing country. It may

The project-specific planning, construction,

maintenance, monitoring, protection and
26

require funding and support from municipal,

regional and national government agencies,
as well as from NGOs and international
agencies. Often overlooked, however, are
the funding needs for the regular
maintenance and protection of a green
spaceCfor few if any green spaces are self
maintaining.
Without
a
budgetary
commitment to upkeep, a city=s investment in
this public amenity can become a waste of
money.

of land, or do not feel even partly responsible

for one, are not likely to care for trees or
other vegetation planted on it. Municipal
lands that become parks or green areas
present the least problem in ownership.
However, individual or communal land
ownership can become complicated, and
even result in confrontations. In cases of
illegal possession of land (as in informal
settlements), residents may plant unauthorized food crops but are unlikely to care for
common green areas when their tenure is in
doubt.

The majority of funds for an urban greening

program most likely need to come from local
sources. Cities need to find ways of securing
general tax revenues or encouraging private
investment to fund tree programs and city
parks (see Box 4). It may also be possible to
create special taxes, bonds and fees for green
improvements that target specific groups
such as developers or businesses (Morgan
1996).

Ownership or the right to use vegetation can

be unclear in urban areas. In cases of
common areas with unspecified title, there
may be disputes as to who has the right to
plant, gather a harvest, or otherwise use an
area. There are many combinations of land
tenure and rights of use that range from
exchanging the right to harvest products for
plant care to titling and exclusive rights of
cooperative ownership and use.

Even with budgeted maintenance costs, it is

more than likely that the public sector will
not be able to shoulder all of the funding for
an urban greening program. The first
challenge then, is for the local government to
identify potential external funding sources.
Ideally, municipalities will share financing
with a wide array of community groups,
foundations, schools, NGOs and private
sector enterprises. Depending on the means
available, these groups can provide direct
financial contributions, payment in kind (e.g.,
trees and tools), or volunteer labor for
planting, maintenance, and monitoring (ibid).

In general, lands are owned by either the

state or an individual, or they are open
access. State or private lands may have
limited access (rights to use are clearly
designated) or in cases where the owner
cannot protect the land from usage, may
become open to any and all who wish to
exploit its resources (as in the case of illegal
occupations). Commonly owned land should
be managed by a specific group or
institution, such as a cooperative or
neighborhood association (Berkes 1989).
As in all urban greening projects, the issue of
management is critical. All planning schemes
must take into account who will be managing
the resources. To a large extent, this will
depend on the tenure of the land and the

Land Tenure
Land tenure could conceivably be the most
significant obstacle to urban greening in
many cities. People who do not own a piece
27

rights to its use. City planners need to

consider ownership and usage of green areas
before deciding what will be planted or
protected. Furthermore, regional and
national planners need to realize that
communities may have historical precedents
or agreements that make their situation
peculiar, thus requiring extra sensitivity in
the development of new land tenure
arrangements.

stake in them if they feel their opinions are

neither welcomed nor valued. In addition,
there are often personal or historical reasons
for failing to participate, such as religious
beliefs, a colonial legacy of paternalism and
fear of reprisals under military regimes. (See
the following chapter for an in-depth
discussion of participation.)

Local Participation

Project agronomists must address a number

of practical constraints of planting vegetation
in an urban environment. First among these
is the condition of the soil in most cities.
Much of the soil in urban areas is either
compacted or made up of fill, and soil
horizons are often inverted, with subsoils in
the top layer and topsoils frequently absent
(Center for Landscape Research 1993). To
make matters worse, a city=s commercial
areas or other densely populated sectors
usually have concrete pavements that have to
be broken through to allow planting. One of
the major costs of planting in the Sao Paulo
AOne Million Trees@ program is simply
breaking concrete for the trees that are
planted in built up commercial districts.

Ecological Constraints

Development projects of many types and

scale have traditionally been of the Atopdown@ variety, although this has been
changing in recent years. It is quite common
for nationally mandated programs to not
coincide with local priorities. This is usually
the result of a lack of coordination and
participation at the local level.
There has been much discussion in recent
years about including as many stakeholders
as possible from the very beginning of the
project. Stakeholders are those people who
have a direct or indirect vested interest in a
green area, such as local residents,
businessmen,
farmers,
neighborhood
associations, sports groups, government
agencies, nongovernmental organizations,
schools, parents= associations, investors and
other individuals or groups that have a
common interest in the area.

Creating planting sites where there is only fill

or concrete makes initial planting much more
expensive, as the city must cover the expense
of either hauling in good soil or creating a
suitable soil mixture to plant in. However,
adding sand or coarse soil amendments to
existing compacted soils will improve soil
aeration and texture, thus encouraging good
root growth and plant survival and thereby
reducing maintenance costs for sick or dead
plants.

Historically, participation at the local level

has been limited to management tasks
assigned by the project administrators,
without any prior input as to the
stakeholders= own priorities, ideas, skills,
knowledge, aspirations or resources.
Projects in this situation often fail, since the
local resource users may not have much of a

Urban planting sites are often inhospitable to

many species because of other stresses or
28

that are legacies of a long history of blended

cultures and conquests.

obstacles. Some of the city conditions that

jeopardize the survival of urban vegetation
are constant air pollution, water table disturbances, plant injuries caused by people
and vehicles, extremes of heat and cold, and
accelerated wind velocities channeled
between tall buildings (Center for Landscape
Research 1993). Sewer and water lines
located near potential tree planting sites may
represent incompatible uses, as roots
frequently damage these lines. Electricity
lines run above potential green areas may
limit the height of vegetation, and thus the
types of tree species that can be planted.
Even fruit trees that line sidewalks can
represent real dangers to pedestrians during
storms.

Many of these laws and customs reflect the

dominant beliefs and attitudes of their time
as, for instance, the idea that Man is meant
to dominate and conquer Nature. Even now,
many land reform laws determine that a piece
of land is Aimproved@ if all the trees are cut
down and it is built upon, thus denoting
ownership. Similarly, the notion that Athe
river will take it away@ has led generations of
rural and urban dwellers to use riverbeds and
gullies as garbage disposal sites. Many of
these customs persist today.
The industrial revolution exacerbated these
attitudes. For example, factories were Alogically@ situated on rivers where they could
dump their toxic waste products. When zoning laws came into existence, green areas
were not necessarily considered, nor were
areas sensitive to development such as flood
plains, steep slopes, watersheds or ecological
restoration zones. Likewise, health codes
written half a century ago are no longer
appropriate for reusing waste to green a city
or irrigate food crops.

Besides the difficulty of poor soils and

inhospitable planting sites, there are also
some plant species concerns. Many cities in
Latin America and the Caribbean do not
have ready access to sources of appropriate
species, hybrids or cultivars suitable for their
particular situation. Some cities are able to
maintain their own nurseries (generally
through the Ministry of Agriculture), but
without private sector participation they may
not be able to produce enough seedlings in
time for their planting projects.
(See
Appendix A, Photo #8.)

Most city ordinances did not contemplate

urban greening at the time they were created,
and government bureaucracies have been
slow to come up to date. In addition, urban
greening is a relatively new concept and does
not always have the necessary political
support needed to be successful. Since most
urban greening projects take years to come
to fruition, it may be difficult to gain popular
support without immediately visible benefits.

Legislation and Customs

Today=s modern cities all started out as small
communities that developed, prospered and
expanded in size and population. Laws were
created along the way to meet the daily
needs of the people. Many laws however,
were simply left in effect even when their
usefulness was long outgrown.
Many
countries in Latin America and the Caribbean
today have a mixture of laws and customs
29

Whether satellite or edge settlements are of

the squatter type or simply small towns that
experience rapid growth to accommodate
urban migration, the people who live in these
areas have the same range of green space
needs as other urban dwellers. Not only are
the poorer communities frequently the last to
be the beneficiaries of urban greening
projects, but the green spaces that are
potentially available to people living in the
suburban zone are often desired by
developers. In Mexico City, for example,
settlements and construction contribute to
the city=s 3.7 percent annual decline rate in
urban green space (Nilsson et al.). Thus, the
challenge to city planners is (1) to anticipate
the direction and magnitude of growth; (2)
to secure resources for the establishment,
maintenance and protection of green areas to
serve these communities; and (3) to evaluate
the probable uses of green areas so that they
can provide the optimal combination of
services.

Gender Issues
Female participation in urban greening programs is an important but frequently overlooked factor. Women are often responsible
for the family=s interaction with the environment, including gardening, care of trees, harvesting, disposal of household wastes, taking
children to parks, and education. Although
women comprise half the urban population,
they typically assume a disproportionate
share of the responsibility for the Agreen@ elements of a family=s welfare. In spite of the
importance of their role, women are rarely
surveyed for their input at the planning and
execution stages of greening projects. Urban
greening programs must seek the active
participation of women; more than one
development and conservation scheme has
failed because it did not consider women=s
roles and inputs.
Growth Management and
Integrated Planning

If planners are able to anticipate the direction

and magnitude of a city=s urban growth then
they can provide services and amenities in a
way that can influence where the growth
occurs. For example, in Curitiba, Brazil, one
of the fastest growing cities in Latin
America, planners channeled urban growth
along structural axes. With the extension of
water, sewer and roads in combination with
bus service connecting the growth areas to
vital parts of the city, planners reduced
traffic and directed urban expansion to the
places most capable of accommodating
growth (Rabinovitch 1993). Similarly,
enforced zoning and density laws can
safeguard open spaces and environmental
amenities before intense colonization occurs
in unplanned, fragile areas such as steep
slopes, riparian corridors, flood plains and

Modern urban centers are growing very differently than they were, say, in the 1950s.
The preponderance of urban growth today
occurs not only on the city=s edge, but more
and more in satellite settlements on or
outside the city=s borders (Smit pers.
comm.). In Latin America many of these
edge and satellite towns are informal,
squatter encampments located on or adjacent
to city green spaces. Such settlements,
rarely ordained by city planners, frequently
lack basic services including potable water,
sewer, garbage pickup and utilities. The lack
of services can result in unmanageable
environmental pressures on the green spaces,
including dumping of wastes, trampling of
plants and the cutting of trees for firewood.

30

the upper reaches of watersheds (Miller

1996). In fact, the provision of infrastructure
services can be used as a bargaining chip
offered to a community in exchange for
agreement to observe open space or density
zoning regulations. Most important, there
needs to be a dialogue between planners and
citizens, as well as an effort to tell people
where they can live, before telling them
where they cannot.

Nevertheless, the jurisdiction over regulation

of such important environmental factors as
air quality, ground and surface water, and
park management usually does not fit neatly
into
one
governmental
department.
Furthermore, the integrity of one green space
may rely not only on the environmental
conditions in that location, but also on the
condition of other nearby greenspaces
because of the interdependence of biotic
elements such as seed sources and migratory
species. Thus, many different government
authorities may share responsibility for the
environmental factors affecting a particular
green space (see: Tlaiye & Biller 1994).

Zoning is equally important in downtown

areas. Frequently these are the areas with
daytime traffic, serious air pollution, and
high densities of people. Adding open green
space to an otherwise congested downtown
center can take away the harsh edge and add
a calming, revitalizing element to daily life
(see: Benefits of Urban Greening). Municipal
governments have a variety of techniques for
acquiring and zoning downtown land for this
purpose, including purchase, claim of
eminent domain for the public good, and
green space obligations for developers (e.g.,
for every 5m2 developed, 1m2 of open space
must be provided). (see: Miller 1996). In
addition to zoning and purchase of
downtown land for green spaces, city
planners need to consult with and garner the
endorsement of the community and local
businessesCfor this is the only way to ensure
that the city will be providing a valuable,
sustainable amenity.

As a result of the cross-sectoral nature of

environmental systems, there is a need for
management to extend across the multiple
governmental agencies whose actions will
affect green spaces. For example, a riverside
park that is also bordered by a highway may
be affected by actions of the parks, water,
transportation, and commerce departments.
Cooperation among government offices must
occur Cespecially since there may be
competition for the same funding. A
successful example of cooperation exists in
Curitiba, Brazil, where a system of parks was
created to protect the IguaHu River and part
of the city=s water supply (see Box 2). These
parks provide a cross-sectoral distribution of
benefits including recreation, drinking water
quality, flood protection, and development
on up to 30 percent of the land (Tlaiye &
Biller 1994; Rabinovitch 1993).

Green spaces are living systems that depend

on a certain level of environmental quality in
order to produce benefits. The level of environmental quality required and the size of the
green space depends on the intended
function of the green space. For example, an
area managed for biodiversity needs to be
relatively more pristine and larger than an
area managed for recreational team sports.

As mentioned above, the ecological integrity

of any one green space may be dependent on
a number of surrounding greenspaces. This
is especially true in cases where biodiversity
is a management objective. AGreen corridors@
that connect urban green spaces to larger,
31

as weather, or changes in environmental

conditions, such as water pollution or the
location of a nearby factory (MacArthur,
1971). Thus, while it may be impossible to
interlink all the major green spaces in an
urban center, planners will maximize the
ecological benefits of greenspaces if they can
design areas in proximity to one another and
connect them by greenways or river/stream
corridors.

rural green spaces allow plant and animal

species in the city to maintain contact with
the larger rural populations (Nilsson et al.
1996). The smaller the green space, the
higher the perimeter (or edge) to area ratio,
and the further it is from a sustainable
genetic reservoir (e.g., a large rural park or
undeveloped
area).
Isolated
species
populations with little genetic variability are
more susceptible to stochastic events, such

32

Basic Requirements for Developing an

Urban Greening Program
This chapter describes the structural support
needed to give an urban greening program
the greatest chance for success. It discusses
the types of projects, in addition to the
institutional, infrastructural and financial
frameworks
that
facilitate
program
execution. The actual elements, or activities,
of an urban greening program are described
in the following chapter, and depend on the
requirements described here being in place.

programs of this type may share resources,

using similarly formatted approaches that
work toward more general, and less cityspecific solutions.
As a component of integrated city projects,
urban greening can be accomplished without
going through the process of instituting an
exclusive funding project. For example, this
method might incorporate urban greening
into water and sewer projects by requiring
additional forested land around settling pools
and reservoirs to serve as a catchment area,
or requiring greenways along aqueducts to
protect flood plains. While this strategy
generally makes smaller contributions toward
a city=s urban greening than the above
methods, it may be much easier and faster to
approve and effectuate. As much as this
integration method facilitates additions to a
city=s
greenspaces,
urban
greening
components should still only be included to
the extent that their economic returns
warrant and that they contribute to the
overall success of the project.

Types of Projects
There are three principal investment designs
for urban greening programs, depending on
the number and size of the cities involved,
and on the priority of greening among the
investment project=s objectives. The three
types are (1) individual self-sustaining
projects, (2) multiple works projects, and (3)
subcomponent projects; they are described
below.
Individual projects are primarily for major
cities and metropolitan areas that require
enough funding to merit consideration as
individual investment projects. Large
amounts of infrastructure development,
technical assistance and mobilization of
resources make it economical to approach a
citywide greening effort as a single project.

Training and Information Exchange

In addition to increasing the acreage devoted
to green spaces, investment projects in urban
greening are also intended to empower cities
to maintain and add to their green areas in
the future. Essential to this second objective
is the provision of adequate technical
assistance in the form of training courses,
extension services and capacity building for
urban forestry, agriculture, tree care and
park upkeep.

Multiple works projects fund urban greening

efforts for more than one city or region at a
time. Such projects are usually for smaller
urban centers that would be costly to fund on
an individual basis, but when combined make
efficient use of resources. Greening
33

and management of certain green areas may

be delegated or contracted to local
community groups (farmers, neighborhood
associations, companies, NGOs, etc.) that
would also benefit from further education. A
strategy for training these individuals to meet
their professional duties will greatly
contribute to the success of a city=s program.

Although designing urban greening programs

will generally be the responsibility of city
planners, there are scores of people in
various institutions who will eventually
become responsible for administering or
managing the various components of the
system. These people will no doubt already
have experience in their chosen field of
work, but they may lack the skills or
knowledge
needed
for
their
new
responsibilities or for interacting with new
program counterparts. Additionally, care

Most large cities have one or more

universities or technical schools that offer
courses related to urban greening; city
officials can take advantage of these to
upgrade the skills of their staff.
For
example, administrators may need some
training in biological sciences to better
understand and manage the city=s green
areas, while technical personnel may require
some training in extension and interpersonal
communications in order to deal more
effectively with the public.

Assessing Employee Training Needs

In Chicago, Illinois (USA), the Green Industry
Project conducted a training survey among com
panies that employ Hispanic field technicians in the
nursery and landscape industry. The
project=s
survey of employers and employees resulted in the
following recommendations for increasing the
effectiveness of theregion=s Hispanic field
technicians (Mendoza 1996):

Where training courses already exist within

city departments, a cross sectoral exchange
could take place. In Curitiba, Brazil, for instance, the city has an urban ecology training
course for its own administrators and offers
the course to authorities from other cities as
well. Alternatively, many international agencies, from conservation groups to financial
institutions, offer technical assistance or
funding for training. For example, the
Environmental Secretariat in Santiago, Chile,
has a technical exchange program with the
London Ecology Unit, wherein the latter is
sharing its expertise on how to take an
ecosystem approach to park management.
Regardless of the form that training may
take, it must be responsive to the expressed
needs of the program=s staff. A simple survey
of these employees will quickly ascertain
what those needs are.

Overcoming Stress
$Provide a trainee handbook
$Create a casual and familiar setting for
the workers (such as a company lunch
room)
$Keep classes to 30 minutes or less
$Train entire crews together at the same
time
$Train in Spanish
Overcoming Limited Skills
$Create nonthreatening study materials
$Avoid excessive detail
$Teach some preliminary study skills
Provide Incentives
$Document training in performance re
views
$Recognition with certificates and/or
salary raises

34

One of the major products to come out of

the 1996 Seminar on Urban Greening in
Mexico City was the creation of an urban
greening network. As this network grows
and becomes more established, it will bring
together resource and training information as
well as case studies to be made available to
any municipality in Latin America wishing to
establish an urban greening project (IDB
1996b).

several community gardens are on public

land (UNDP 1996).
Environmental Education
As so much of the success of urban greening
depends on public participation, it is crucial
to inform people of the how and why of
these projects. Clearly, if communities are to
be partially responsible for maintaining green
spaces, they will have to know how to take
care of their resources and what to do if they
have problems.
Equally important is
informing people of the environmental
benefits of their projects which, together
with recreational benefits, may be the
motivating factors for public participation.

There are a few training programs involving

urban greening already established in the
region. For example, Panama City=s
extension service trains neighborhood
volunteers, while Argentina=s Pro Huerta (a
semi-governmental collection of organizations), runs a program to train the
trainers for community, school and
institutional gardens (UNDP 1996). In Bogota, Colombia, a government environmental
project includes training for officials and
users in the operation and management of
the program works (IDB 1990). Mexico City
has adopted a similar arrangement with a
total of 57 training courses (to be held in the
Federal District, the state of Mexico and
abroad), for officials working on an urban
ecological conservation project (IDB 1992).

The
numerous
opportunities
for
environmental education include, but are not
limited to: primary and secondary school
curricula; city-sponsored events such as
festivals, tree-planting days, different types
of races, etc.; community group involvement
such as churches, sports teams, or boy
scouts; and NGO-sponsored activities. The
broader the citizen understanding and
participation in the mission, the higher the
probability for success and for green areas to
flourish well past the time horizons of a
single investment project.

Training can also be carried out through

NGOs, as is the case of SEMTA, an NGO in
La Paz, Bolivia, whose center includes a
greenhouse, windmill and classrooms. Peru
Mujer, an NGO in Lima, Peru, works with
low- and middle-income urban women in
community gardening and has developed its
own training manuals. These include not
only the technical aspects of urban farming,
but also nutrition and health issues as well.
Peru Mujer has a good relationship with the
government: one of their training centers is
on the grounds of a government hospital and

Institutional Strengthening
It is critical that a part of any urban greening
investment goes toward building local
institutional capacity. While capital inputs
make projects possible, the longevity of
these efforts would be limited if recipient
communities did not receive assistance to
develop the technical, logistical, and infrastructural elements needed to sustain
greening efforts. Green areas, for example,
35

watersheds, slope and altitude can be

displayed alone or in combination with other
mapping characteristics. GIS can incorporate
information from existing maps, typed-in
input and even satellite images. While some
components of GIS technology are very
expensive, many of the basic elements are
both affordable and cost efficient for
developing countries. For example, Mexico
City and Bogota, Colombia are building GIS
databases, and the World Conservation
Union (IUCN) is using GIS to categorize
and manage conservation areas throughout
Central America.

may require zoning studies, plant and animal

inventories, and monitoring and mapping
Call of which require experts with special
equipment, technology and access to
research and development information.
Much of what goes into institutional
strengthening Cproviding extension services,
technical assistance, provision of information
materials, small loan availability for urban
agricultureC can be shared among
communities or cities.
For example,
technical manuals and environmental
education curricula can be developed and
published in one location and then circulated
regionally or even nationally, depending on
the country.

Social and Political Support

Social Support

Maps
Urban greening programs will have direct
effects on several groups of people in and
around each green area. It is important to
recognize that these people will have a direct
impact on the success or failure of the greening program. By involving the affected citizens and community groups in the design
stages of a program, planners can garner
public support at the outset and greatly increase the chances for success. To protect
and maintain green areas, it is essential to
understand how local people relate to the
land and how they use its resources. Their
full participation is necessary from the very
beginning of the project, i.e., at the
conceptual stage rather than just the
implementation stage. Too often the
stakeholders of an area are seen as the
Atargets@ of conservation or education
projects rather than as equal partners. They
are usually involved only at the end of a
project to take on some prescribed
management task or to forfeit some personal
benefit for the greater good. This approach

The map is one of the most efficient tools for

managing, monitoring and doing inventories
of green space resources in cities. Maps
provide pictorial representations of city
resources, existing infrastructure and zoning
that allow planners to identify the elements
of a city scape that will limit, complement or
hinder their work. Parks and green areas,
water resources, utility lines, transportation
routes, topographic and soil profiles, and
manmade structures (such as dams, bridges
or aqueducts that might affect a greening
program) are features that should be
included in any inventory or map system.
Currently, the most convenient and sophisticated mapping tools are Geographic
Information Systems, or GIS. GIS are
computerized mapping systems that digitally
display natural or manmade geographic
features on a map that can be manipulated
for specific needs.
Features such as
vegetation, roads, population density,
36

has led to innumerable conflicts and project

failure around the region (Barzetti 1993).

technologies in neighboring countries as well

(UNDP 1996).
In La Florida, Chile,
community interest groups chartered through
official channels have legal rights to work in
partnership with municipal governments to
develop Community Action Plans. These
plans can draw on appropriated funds to
improve neighborhood parks, street lighting,
and sidewalks (IDB 1996e).

The process of dialogue, consultation and

coordination with each green area=s stakeholders should be an integral and continual
part of urban greening programs. Although
an integrated, broad-based participatory
approach may sound difficult to achieve with
limited budgets and personnel, it need not be
an expensive undertaking. City planners can
take advantage of the wealth of knowledge,
skills and expertise that the neighborhoods
have to offer. People support what they
believe to be valuable, especially if they
receive a direct benefit from it or perceive
that it is threatened and in short supply. If
project managers can elucidate to the public
the multitude of benefits that green areas
provide, enlisting their support should not be
an overly difficult task (ibid).

It is important to include suburban as well as

urban groups, as quite often these residents
are living in critical watershed or wetlands.
Involving such groups in planning an urban
greening program can help avoid conflict
later. For instance, when a city=s watershed
policy restricts traditional agricultural
activities in an area, residents may resist the
new policies thereby causing degradation of
the watershed. City officials in Sao Paulo,
Brazil, have avoided these conflicts by
soliciting resident input on the design of
watershed protection policies.

Neighborhood associations and other nongovernmental organizations are among the

most prevalent groups to work with. People
living closest to a particular green area
almost always have the most interest and
have the most to gain from working with a
municipality to improve their neighborhood.
They can also contribute their time, labor
and even materials to a project, as well as
take responsibility for protecting and
maintaining it. For example, the citizen=s
group, Friends of Chapultepec, raised funds
to restore this popular park in Mexico City.
Similarly, FUSAI (the Salvadoran Foundation for Integrated Aid, an NGO) planted
more than 100,000 trees in 46 communities
and reforested 17 urban school grounds
(IDB 1995). NGOs in Peru are conducting
advanced research in composting, guinea pig
rearing and microenterprise for urban
farmers, and are promoting these

It is also important to consider business

owners and contractors as stakeholders.
Many business owners in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
and Bogota, Colombia, care for street trees
in front of their stores in exchange for
advertising on the tree protectors. In general,
local companies take civic pride in their
neighborhood and see their contribution to
urban ecology as positive public relations.
Aware of this fact, city officials in Sao Paulo
solicit businesspeople to sponsor tree
plantings, while in ViZa del Mar, Chile, some
companies manage entire parks.
In poorer neighborhoods, working with
smaller enterprises is feasible and critical to
cooperation with low-income groups (Smit
1996). The city can contract these local
companies for a wide range of activities
37

necessary for urban greening to be

successful. Some potential jobs include:
urban agricultural tasks such as beekeeping,
fish farming, food crop production,
irrigation, harvesting medicinal plants;
managing tree nurseries and urban woodlots;
staffing opportunities at educational and
health facilities; managing recreational and
park facilities; and maintaining low cost
wastewater treatment in pond and wetland
systems.

support to regional and local governments

that do not have the funds to develop such
resources on their own. Furthermore, by
integrating urban greening into national
environmental plans and performing followup evaluations, a central government can
monitor progress made in urban greening
throughout the country (Lampietti & Subramanian 1995). In this manner, experience
can be shared and support can be directed to
those cities most in need of help. To the
extent that national officials are aware of
urban greening programs, the potential
benefits, and the progress made therein, they
can move the cause forward by pledging
their political support.

Participation in planning and implementation

should also be extended to educational facilities. In Mexico City, for example, the
University of Mexico assists the urban
greening program in improving its seed
collection.
Sao Paulo=s environmental
secretariat
frequently
consults
with
professors from city universities on technical
aspects of the program. In Durban, South
Africa, schools are consulted on management
and design decisions for the park system.
Primary and secondary schools are also a
prime focus of greening activities. They can
be the fundamental motivators for tree
plantings
and
can
contribute
to
environmental education, as witnessed in
urban greening programs in ViZa del Mar,
Chile, and Sao Paulo, Brazil (Ceballos 1995,
Philippi 1995).
Political Support

Within the hierarchy of the municipal

political system, active participation can be
sought from local officials in urban
subdivisions. These community authorities
usually monitor the pulse of their localities
and convey the needs and opinions of their
constituents to the higher echelon
administrators.
Tapping
into
local
authorities= knowledge and experience with
diverse urban communities can smooth the
way for city planners who cannot possibly
have contact with every neighborhood in the
metropolis. Such input can also influence
political decisions regarding the type of
urban greening that will be implemented and
where in the city it will be located.

Within the government, participation and

communication are just as important,
whether at the national or municipal level.
Although national governments are not
usually involved in the specifics of urban
greening programs, they can greatly facilitate
country-wide goal attainment by setting
policy objectives, time tables, and standards,
and by providing institutional and network

In a similar fashion, other government or

municipal entities (such as water, gas and
electric utility companies) may need to be
included in a program=s planning sessions.
For example, the electric company of Sao
Paulo, Brazil, spends US$32 million annually
on line maintenance and repairs caused by
tree damage. Mexico City, on the other
hand, coordinates its urban greening with
38

policies at the micro level, rather they should

act as guidelines. Municipal law is much
more appropriate for dealing with the
specifics and peculiarities of individual cities.

local utilities to avoid costly line maintenance

problems. Other government agencies, such
as secretariats or ministries of transportation,
education, housing, energy and agriculture,
should also be consulted during the planning
process. (See Appendix A, Photo #10.)

Regulatory law allows the government to

protect resources for the common good regardless of whether they are situated on
public or private land. This often takes the
form of regulations and permits enforceable
by fines. For example, in Sao Paulo, Brazil,
a 1966 law dictates that for any new
development in the city, 15 percent of the
land must be left as green area and another 5
percent must be slated for public use. In
addition, a permit for cutting down trees
must be obtained from the environmental
enforcement agency. In Curitiba, which has
one of the strictest environmental protection
laws in Brazil, cutting or even pruning a tree
on any public or private land requires a
permit. Approximately 6000 to 7000 permits
are applied for annually and about 30 percent
are denied.
Even if a landowner or
developer gets a permit, for every tree cut
they must plant two trees on their own land
or donate two trees to the city to plant.
While these laws offer strict protection to
trees, the corresponding time and paperwork
generated by the statutes may divert precious
resources away from more urgent tasks
(Philippi 1996).

Clearly, public opinions strongly influence

political decisions and hence policy-making
and budgeting. Therefore, it is imperative
that the benefits of urban greening are
publicly heralded and have broad public
support. This can best be accomplished
through the active participation of the many
sectors of society affected by urban greening
programs. Political decisions made at the
national, regional and local levels can
significantly change city scapes and thereby
affect the lives of urban dwellers. Because
change occurs in both directions, planners
must see the opportunity for urban greening
as a two-way top-down (government policy
influencing city greenscapes and natural
resources), and bottom-up (public opinion
influencing the political) process.
Legal Framework
Regulatory Law
Public works projects such as urban greening
need to fit in the existing legal framework
and to enjoy legal support and protection
against competitive uses and destruction.
Laws and regulations are enacted at various
levels of government, and therefore it is
important that they are designed in such a
way that they complement each other
without overlaps or gaps. That is, national
laws need to be the most general and
overarching because they apply to the entire
country. These laws should not attempt to
serve as precise mandates or to enforce

Many cities start with tree care ordinances

and gradually include more legislation to
cover other aspects of resource protection
and maintenance. Quite often the laws are
created in reaction to an environmental
situation that needs some form of regulation.
In the absence of adequate laws, resources
in green areas can be exploited and
destroyed. Even when there are existing legal
prohibitions on using resources in green
39

areas, enforcement may be too costly or

impractical to be effective. This problem is
particularly evident in the case of informal
settlements. For example, 65 percent of Sao
Paulo=s 1800 favelas (low-cost housing
which is home to one million people), are
located on municipal lands designated for
green areas (SMVMA 1993).

observing the minimal sanitation standards.

They claimed his actions violated their
constitutional right to live in an environment
free of contamination. The claimants
simultaneously filed an administrative suit
with the town=s sanitation service and a civil
suit with the local court and won on both
counts. The dump was subsequently closed
and the mayor ordered to pay an
administrative fine and clean up the site
(Tietenberg 1996).

Law Enforcement
Another way of improving compliance with
regulations is voluntary private enforcement
of regulatory laws. Private citizens or
groups can contribute to the enforcement in
four main ways: (1) by suing violators to
recover monetary damages; (2) by lodging a
complaint against a violator with the public
authorities; (3) by bringing legal action
against violators to bring them into
compliance; and (4) by bringing legal action
against public authorities who are
responsible for enforcing the laws but fail to
do so (Tietenberg 1996).

Flexible Practices
Sometimes, land use in green areas is
regulated through informal agreements. For
example, the electric company in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, leases land under its
transmission lines to farmers to produce food
for home consumption and market. The
company issues land use permits with clauses
that obligate the farmers to keep their area
cultivated and fenced in, and to prune above
a certain height. If the farmers adhere to
these regulations, they can use the permits to
receive credit and technical assistance from
government agencies (UNDP 1996).

An example of lodging complaints with

public authorities is found in Sao Paulo=s
Projecto Silencio Urbano (PSIU). Citizens
are encouraged to report any violations of
the city=s noise code, and any other
environmental infractions, such as illegal
cutting of trees. The municipal authorities
then respond to the complaint and enforce
the regulations. Although heavy fines are
often imposed on code violators, media
coverage of the transgressors appears to be a
bigger deterrent than the penalty (PMSP
1996).

Some regulations allow for flexibility. For

instance, in both Sao Paulo and Curitiba,
Brazil, developers can exceed zoning limits
on building height by Atrading@ vertical space
for green space. Thus, a developer limited to
a two-story building may be given
permission to build a four-story structure if
he or she provides additional open space in
exchange.
A law can sometimes be interpreted in a
flexible way, as happened in Ajusco, a rocky
region outside Mexico City where squatter
settlements developed along the highway.
After repeated attempts to evict the squatters

In a case of bringing suit against a public

authority, the citizens of Futrono, Chile, filed
suit against the mayor for Aarbitrarily and
illegally installing a rubbish dump@ without
40

example, existing land use or zoning policies

may discourage urban agriculture or other
new green areas or, conversely, may permit
unused municipal lands to be cultivated
within the city limits. Similarly, municipal
staff already engaged in park maintenance
may need to be reoriented from a
horticulturally-based
system
to
an
ecologically sustainable one. There is also
the question of whether or not government
institutions have the resources to perform
supervisory roles. That is, with the increasing
trend of contracting out parts of projects to
the private sector, there needs to be a
governmental entity in charge of verifying
that tasks are completed to satisfaction. Finally, greening projects often lack long-term
planning and funds set aside for vegetation
maintenance, so plant care is based on crisis
management. Such policies could be
rewritten to reverse that trend.

from the degraded and polluted area, city

officials decreed the zone a conservation
area and decided to legally evict all the
inhabitants and reforest the locality. To avoid
being removed from their homes, the local
residents decided to cooperate with the
greening effort and began to plant trees and
gardens and eliminate the sources of
pollution. With the help of university
biologists and environmental NGOs, these
ecologically sustainable settlements soon
included reforestation, micro-livestock,
fisheries,
mushroom
farming
and
horticulture. Their efforts convinced the city
government to adopt such activities as part
of their plans for the area and the settlements
were allowed to stay (UNDP 1996).
Whether legislation is mandatory or
voluntary, unbending or flexible, for public
or private resources, it is nonetheless an
important tool of urban greening programs.
Where existing laws are outdated or new
regulations need to be created, an active
participatory program can influence political
decisions about environmental legalities.
Such changes can be instantaneous (as with
presidential decrees) or may take months or
even years to go through the bureaucratic
channels. Nevertheless, laws and regulations
serve the purpose of protecting natural
resources for the benefit of all urban
residents.

Appropriate institutional arrangements may

need to be created to facilitate urban
greening rather than inhibit it. In the case of
urban food production, there may need to be
some
institutional
restructuring
to
accommodate agriculture. For instance,
specific agricultural extension efforts could
be directed toward urban farmers. Waste
management institutions could consider how
to change their bylaws so that treated
wastewater could be used for irrigation.
In many cases, simply integrating urban
greening into existing city institutions could
be the easiest way to get a program started.
This is especially appropriate with
transportation, neighborhood renovations,
wastewater management and air quality
control. For example, the Department of
Public Works in Santiago, Chile, contracts
companies for highway construction and

Institutional Feasibility
Any urban greening program will need to
consider the policies and dictates of the various institutions it has to work through and
with. An ambitious greening program can be
helped or hindered by how much an
institution can cooperate within the limits of
its bylaws and institutional ordinances. For
41

Ecology Unit to establish regulatory and

management norms, as recommended in the
Agenda 21 document. This important plan
of action should be incorporated into urban
greening planning wherever possible.

actively promotes highway tree planting. In

Mexico City utility companies sublet the land
under power lines for urban agriculture,
while in Sao Paulo the promotion of tree
planting is a task of the entity responsible for
the new housing developments. In Bogota,
Colombia, municipal staff is working with
the city schools and public institutions to
assist in their landscaping. Thus, as long as
there is cooperation among the institutions
involved, a city with limited financial
resources can begin to implement some
urban greening by taking advantage of these
low cost opportunities to work within
existing institutional frameworks.

Technical Viability and

Environmental Sustainability

Many municipalities delegate responsibility

and management of trees and green areas to
nongovernmental entities. In Mexico City,
for example, companies with tree planting
contracts are legally responsible for the
survival and maintenance of the trees for six
months after planting. Government agencies
oversee the planting and care of the trees and
can impose fines for noncompliance with the
contract. If the dispute is not remedied, the
government can cancel the contract and even
assess a penalty (MartRnez and Chacalo
1994).

The technical viability of an urban greening

program depends on a city=s capacity to appropriately site, construct, maintain and
monitor a green space in a way that ensures
a continuous supply of the intended benefits.
Municipalities need to have or be able to
draw on the technical expertise to integrate
environmental and technical variables such as
watershed protection, and appropriate and
compatible species composition into both the
planning and operations stages of the green
space. For example, if tools such as mapping
equipment are provided, there should be
specialists available locally who can instruct
the users and make repairs. Similarly, local
nurseries should have enough capacity to
fulfill the demand for plants, and
horticulturists should possess enough
knowledge to alter species compositions and
control biological pests in public green areas.

Agenda 21, an environmental plan of action

that resulted from the 1992 Earth Summit,
also
has
excellent
guidelines
for
environmental efforts and institution
building, and is being discussed in several
major cities (UNCED 1992). In Sao Paulo,
for example, planners and administrators
from civic organizations and all the
secretariats have regularly scheduled
discussions of Agenda 21's recommendations and their execution by the participating
entities (PMSP 1996). In a similar fashion,
Santiago, Chile, is working with the London

Environmental sustainability means that outside factors do not interfere with biological
and ecological processes of a green space,
resulting in a reduction of the benefits provided by the area. The challenge of environmental sustainability depends on the intended
function of the green space. For example, a
city park composed primarily of ball fields
for team sports needs only to maintain grass
cover and a few surrounding trees. In
contrast, an urban forest with high species
diversity may have elements that are much
more sensitive to pollution, intensive use, or
42

other changes in environmental conditions.

In any green space, preserving the variety of
plant and animal species requires managers
to (1) have knowledge of the various species=
needs and sensitivities, (2) implement and
maintain a monitoring system to inform them
of changes in conditions, and (3) undertake
the requisite remediation measures.

species presence and distribution are

inconsequential.
Thus,
while
high
biodiversity in such a system would be a
bonus, its presence is not essential to the
intended function of the area. This example
illustrates how planners can rank the importance of desired benefits to help determine
the desired environmental sustainability and
resource allocation for a particular green
area.

To ensure the environmental sustainability of

an urban green space network, planners
should first evaluate and rate the ecological
sensitivity of the component green spaces.
The next step would be to set up a
monitoring system based on the priorities
established in the evaluation. In this way,
most fragile areas will get the attention they
need.

Lastly, planners need to consider the

potential impact that might result from the
green space itself. For example, pesticide
use in urban agricultural plots could generate
runoff that would pollute the local water
supply. In other cases, certain trees or
shrubs may have great quantities of pollen
that cause allergic reactions, or they may
have high water budgets that actually drain
water tables. While these impacts are usually
minor compared to the benefits, they are not
always negligible and need to be considered
(Basterrechea et al. 1996; Nowak et al.
1996).

Monitoring and subsequent remediation

efforts should be able to control certain
harmful elements such as soil compaction,
local water pollution, and high pedestrian
traffic on and off trails. However, there may
be other elements, such as air pollution, that
are beyond the mitigation powers of any
park maintenance task force. In this case,
planners need to confer with city officials to
decide either to downgrade the acceptable
environmental quality of a particular green
space, or to modify the pollution sources,
e.g., by rerouting traffic or altering emission
requirements.

Financial and Economic Viability

The two principal determinants for the economic viability of an urban greening project
are as follows: Does the project provide the
necessary financial rate of return to investors
and therefore guarantee their continued
financial support? And, does it provide the
desired socioeconomic benefits to the public?

In some cases, the environmental quality of a

green space may deteriorate in a way that
will not alter the benefits that planners
intended the area to provide. For example,
the effectiveness of a green space established
for the stabilization of a hillside or for water
catchment purposes may depend on a stable
root system and a varied tree canopy,
respectively. Beyond this however, the

Assuring investors of a project=s financial

viability is of primary importance, since the
project would not be possible without their
capital. It is therefore crucial to calculate as
accurately as possible the economic benefits
generated by a particular project. The first
test, of course, is to verify that the net
43

benefits from the project are equal to or

greater than those of alternative land uses.
Calculating the benefits may require close
scrutiny. Some are easy to identify, such as
revenue from urban agriculture or
concessionaire permits and increased
property values. But many others are more
difficult to quantify, such as pollution
abatement and reductions in health care
costs.

Determining the socioeconomic viability of

green spaces in the public eye should be a
two-part process if possible. The first step
should occur prior to the establishment of
the green space and consist of a survey of
the public=s needs. In this manner, planners
can design the project to cater to the public.
The second step is to make a comprehensive
valuation
of
the
benefits.
Many
environmental benefits are not commonly
given a monetary value and therefore do not
figure into cost-benefit analyses. The
ABenefits of Urban Greening@ chapter
discusses some of the environmental benefits
frequently overlooked in accounting ledgers,
and the AChallenges Facing Urban Greening@
chapter outlines some of the techniques used
to approximate monetary values for these
hard-to-handle amenities.
While these
valuation techniques are often considered
experimental, Kielbaso (1993) and Tietenberg (1992) cite projects in the United States
where savings in heating and cooling costs,
air pollution abatement, visitor use, and CO2
reduction were successfully figured into the
economic analyses of urban forestry projects.

Once the direct and indirect benefits are

identified, planners can solicit funding from
parties that stand to gain the most. For
example, companies that traditionally have
caused air pollution may want to improve
their image by providing financial support for
the establishment of green spaces which
abate pollution. Similarly, residents whose
property values will increase as a result of
tree-lined streets or a nearby city park,
should be willing to contribute to a related
municipal bond, beautification tax, or other
revenue-generating mechanism (Morgan
1996).
Another key strategy to securing funding for
green spaces is to incorporate their construction into larger infrastructure projects. Not
only do planting costs in general pale in comparison to road or sewer construction or
drainage, but it is also much more efficient to
plant in an area where the ground is already
torn up, and heavy equipment is already onsite for landscaping. Furthermore, the
benefits can be directly related to the
infrastructure project at hand, whether it is
pollution and noise abatement for a road
construction project or watershed protection
and flood control for a sewer or water line
project.

The basic legal, institutional, technical,

environmental and economic requirements
for starting up and maintaining an urban
greening program need not all be present at
once for a city to begin to green its
surroundings. Most municipalities will have
an assortment of advantageous and limiting
factors to work with and will gradually
update and revise those conditions that
impede their progress. As long as there is a
strong commitment to the process, such
limitations can be overcome.

44

Activities of Urban Greening Programs

This chapter outlines specific activities or
mechanisms that cities can use to obtain the
benefits that a successful urban greening program will confer upon its citizens. By
contributing to the implementation of the activities described below, citizens can help
make their cities healthier, more enjoyable
and more economically viable places to live.

Other cities in the region have found innovative ways to incorporate public input into
their urban greening programs. The Parks
and Gardens Department of ViZa del Mar,
Chile, works with neighborhoods, ecology
groups and students to educate them on
ecological issues and to reduce vandalism of
street trees. To encourage pride in
neighborhood plantings, the Department
gives prizes for the most attractive lawns and
even for balconies with plants (See Appendix
A, Photo #11.)

Public Outreach and Education

The key to a successful urban greening program is the active participation of
stakeholders and the general public in its
planning and implementation. As already
discussed, participation by those who will be
most affected by urban greening projects is
essential to preserving and managing those
areas. Many cities in Latin America and the
Caribbean have incorporated this type of
outreach into their programs.

In some cases, there may be active resistance

or simple indifference to a city=s efforts to
create more green spaces. Officials in
Mexico City discovered that when the city
provided seedlings, transportation, labor and
agronomic inputs for tree plantings in
wealthier neighborhoods, the landowners did
little to maintain the trees. Since the owners
had not participated in the plantings, they did
not value them and were indifferent to their
care.
Consequently, city officials now
require landowners to become partners in
any tree plantings on their property and to
donate labor and other inputs to the program
(MartRnez and Chacalo 1994).

For example, the governor of Curitiba,

Brazil, believes that cooperation is achieved
by informing people through the media and
then respecting their input. He has made this
philosophy the basis of Curitiba=s
environmental programs and solicits public
input from people of all ages and
occupations. To encourage participation
from low-income residents, the city has
provided weekend bus service from park to
park so the poor can appreciate natural
resources and become more active in
environmental programs. In addition, an
environmental training center constructed
over an old landfill is being used to train
citizens in ecology and community
participation (FPFP 1990).

Getting input from stakeholders is important

even at the conceptual stage of a program,
before the actual planning begins. When city
officials in Bogota, Colombia, decided to use
wastewater for agricultural irrigation, they
sought input from the farmers who would
benefit from it so as to design an appropriate
system (IDB 1990b). In a similar fashion,
park development contractors in Santiago,
Chile, now must specify how they intend to
45

establishing a well-maintained, treed plaza as

the major social gathering place in the center
of cities in Latin America. Certain parks,
such as Central Park in New York City, or
Chapultepec in Mexico City, are so integral
to a city=s identity that it is hard to imagine
those cities without them. Such parks
provide passive and active recreation, refuge
from the car and concrete urban bustle, and
improvements in a city=s aesthetic value and
environmental quality. Depending on access,
variety of services, upkeep and safety, parks
have the potential of bringing together crosssections of society that might not otherwise
mingle: young and old, rich and poor, and
different races.

include public input in park design. They

generally hold community meetings on the
issue, draw up alternatives based on that
input, then return to the communities to see
which alternative the people prefer before
designing the new park (Ministerio de Obras
Publicas 1995).
Public Parks
One of the most visible and popular components of an urban greening program is the
city park. There is a long tradition of
Participation from Div erse Eth nic G rou ps
People of Vietnam ese, Chinese, Mex ican, F ilipino,
Cam bodian and Indian descent m ake u p alm ost h alf
of th e popu lation of San Jose, California. Ou r City
F orest, a local NG O, h ad to depend on th e
participation of all th ese eth nic grou ps to im ple
m ent th eir AOne Million People, One MillionTrees@
cam paig n.

City parks are especially important for the

urban poor who cannot afford to travel to
national parks or join private sporting clubs,
and otherwise have few recreational outlets.
City parks located within a reasonable
walking distance from poor neighborhoods
can substantially increase the quality of life
for these people by providing opportunities
for leisure activities.

Th e NG O ch ose to elicit participation throu g h

Afocu s grou ps,@ or inform al m eeting s, w h ere people
freelyg av e th eir opinions in response to th eNG O=s
qu estions. Th ese focu s grou ps adv ised Ou r City
F orest on h ow best to reach th e non- Eng lish
speaking com m u nities and ev en drafted broch u res
ex plaining th e One Million Trees cam paig n. Th eyalso
su g g ested distribu ting th e broch u res in h ig h ly
frequ ented places su ch as ch u rch es, com m u nity
centers and neig h borh ood grocerystores, adv ice
th e NG O follow ed.

Depending on the size and design of a park,

it also provides a range of environmental services.
While even grass playing fields
increase water catchment area to decrease
storm runoff, parks with some forested area
also improve air quality, dampen noise
pollution, reduce wind speeds and add
aesthetic value (Kuchelmeister 1993).

W h en th e cam paig n w as lau nch ed, 13 0 represen

tativ es from 105 com m u nity-based organizations
su ch as stu dent grou ps, ch am bers ofcom m erce,
senior citizen grou ps, AIDS serv ice grou ps, and
g ang and dru g abu se org anizations participated.
Once th e program w as u nderw ay, fu rth er partici
pation w as encou rag ed byoffering an 18 - h ou r
training cou rse in caring for th e trees. G radu ates
becam eATreeAm ig os@ and w ent on to coach oth er
grou ps w ith tree planting projects (Berry19 9 6 ).

Larger parks with more extensively forested

areas also provide animal habitats, increase
urban biodiversity, and can provide wildlife
viewing pleasure for people.

46

Street and Residential Trees

U rban Agricu ltu ral Projects

Family garden projects can easily be im
plemented
at a very low cost to the city. For exam
ple, in ViZa
del Mar, Chile, any family desiring an urban garden
can receive land, free seeds and free technical
advice from thecity=s Parks Department. The
family provides all other inputs and labor and
collects the resulting harvest. School classes are
entitled to participate as well and gain the added
benefit of having a venue for agricultural education
for urban youth.

Businesses, residents and tourists alike

appreciate the multiple benefits provided by
trees along urban streets. In Sao Paulo,
Brazil, trees are especially desired in the
business district where local shop owners can
advertise on the recycled plastic tree
protectors. They generally prefer to sponsor
trees in high traffic, central locations where
the growth conditions are poor, but where a
good business sponsor can better ensure a
tree=s survival (See Appendix A, Photo #12.)

A similar approach is being implemented in Apple

ton, Wisconsin (USA), although it is spon
sored
through a church group instead of a munic
ipality.
Church volunteers plow a large tract of land and
plant it with several vegetables, one type per row.
Low-income families then buy the rights to as many
rows as they can afford for the season and thereafter
maintain and harvest their plots through the fall.
Urban greening programs in Latin America and the
Caribbean could institute an agricultural program
similar toAppleton=s by coordinating with the
various religious, social and environmental groups
in their cities. The government could provide the
urban land for such a project while the
implementing groups and beneficiary families could
supply the necessary labor and inputs.

One of the primary activities of any street

tree project is tree location and maintenance.
In Santiago, Chile, two criteria for siting
new parks are tree density and low income
population. The small city of Waukesha,
Wisconsin
(USA)
spends
almost
US$500,000 a year on its parks program and
has been designated ATree City@ of the USA
for 17 consecutive years. Approximately
1000 trees are planted annually and all trees
are on a six-year pruning and maintenance
cycle. Waukesha citizens and the Urban
Forestry Department ensure that trees are
planted at all newly constructed public or
private buildings.

Urban Agriculture
No urban greening program would be complete without an urban agriculture
component. Agriculture includes activities
such as beekeeping, fish farming, market
gardening, micro-livestock (rabbits, guinea
pigs, etc.) and poultry production, flower
beds, woodlots for fuel, orchards, harvesting
medicinal plants and fodder, managing tree
nurseries, field crops and irrigation projects,
among others. Smit (1996) estimates that
agriculture, in all its many guises, occupies
more than half of all Agreen@ uses of urban
land.

While city tree projects beautify a city and

provide a range of environmental benefits,
they can also provide more tangible benefits
to needy people. For example fruit and nut
trees provide real nutritional inputs; fast
growing species, properly culled or pruned
provide firewood, natural fencing, and
mulching material (Kuchelmeister 1991).
Furthermore, the use of species that have
such immediate economic benefits should
encourage a community to take an active
role in the care of the trees.

The poor of the region particularly value

urban land that can be used to produce both
47

food and cash crops. Several cities have

family garden programs as part of their urban
greening system, and in Mexico City there
are beekeeping courses for low- income
residents living near Xochimilco Park.
Planning committees for urban greening can
include residents in the process of deciding
which tree and plant species to include in
particular green areas in order to maximize
the production of specific material products.

Sciences (CEPIS) to test the possibility of

producing fish in mature wastewater
stabilization ponds. The project confirmed
that fish raised in such ponds are free of
pathogens, heavy metals and chemicals and
are thus suitable for human consumption. In
addition, the productivity of the aquaculture
in wastewater ponds compares well to the
more traditional tropical fish ponds that use
expensive feeds (Khouri et al. 1994).
Integrating these two components of an
urban greening program can multiply the
benefits to city residents.

Several cities around the world have adopted

goals of food self-reliance. Included among
them are: Ahmedabad, India; Toronto, Canada; Shanghai, China; and Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (Smit 1996).

Greenbelts and Greenways

Greenbelts are large parcels of land in and
around cities where urban development is
totally prohibited through zoning, public
ownership, easements or development
restrictions (Miller 1993). Greenbelts
provide such environmental benefits as noise
and air pollution reduction, climate
amelioration,
biodiversity,
watershed
protection and wildlife habitat. Greenbelts
are basically open space buffers amid the
congestion and pollution of most large cities.

Urban agriculture can benefit large numbers

of residents by working through both
government programs and NGOs. For
example, Peru Mujer, an NGO in Lima,
Peru, runs a community gardening program
that reaches approximately 5,000 low- and
middle-income families in and around the
city. In Costa Rica, various security forces
work with public agencies and NGOs to
create large community gardens for their
families in downtown San JosJ. Pro Huerta,
a national collective of government and
private institutions in Argentina, lists over a
half million beneficiaries of its gardens program. These residents are reached through
1,100 cooperating institutions that support
62,000 community, school and institutional
gardens in 1,800 towns and cities (UNDP
1996).

An example of a greenbelt can be found in

Santiago, Chile. The mountain range outside
the city serves as the principal watershed for
municipal water supplies and electricity. As
the city=s population expands and begins to
invade this mountainous area, municipal officials have designated the cordillera a
greenbelt to prevent any further development
and to preserve this valuable resource area.

Urban agriculture can also be integrated into

other urban greening components, as seen in
an innovative aquaculture project in Lima,
Peru. The World Bank funded a demonstration project by the Pan American Centre for
Sanitary Engineering and Environmental

Greenways, by contrast, are narrower vegetated corridors that can have multiple uses
and
functions
such
as
improving
environmental quality, providing recreation,
and serving as alternative transportation
48

neighborhoods. In Durban, South Africa,

greenway parks have been established along
the coastline, ridgelines and river valleys.
The city uses an ecosystem approach
(biogeographical design principles) to allow
natural succession processes to vegetate and
maintain native plant communities in these
parks.

routes (bicycle and foot paths). Greenways

are often sited along natural systems such as
rivers, ravines, ridge lines and floodplains.
These are usually less expensive lands and
cannot be built on, due to environmental and
physical limitations. Siting utility lines along
greenways is a common practice, since it
reduces the cost of land acquisition as well
as conflicts over land use rights. In Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, the electric company
provides land under its transmission lines to
farmers free of charge. In return, the
company benefits by having its greenways
maintained and avoiding squatter settlements
as well as having a source of fresh produce
for its canteens (UNDP 1996). Greenways
can also be incorporated into a highway
system as wide, vegetated medians, such as
those required by the Ministry of Public
Works in Santiago, Chile.

Watershed Management
One of the most urgent priorities in any large
metropolis is providing clean water to residents and adequately disposing of wastewaters. An abundant supply of clean water
depends on a healthy water supply catchment
area or watershed. City planners need to
work with urban and suburban residents and
other stakeholders in watershed areas to
ensure adequate protection of this important
resource. This element of an urban greening
program can be integrated with other
sections such as tree planting, school
education and flood control.

Greenways have the additional benefit of

serving as natural corridors that connect
larger wildlife habitats.
Such corridors
permit wildlife populations to survive in
urban environments and contribute to the
overall biodiversity of the area (Labaree
1992). A more specific type of greenway is
riparian reforestation, or riverside tree
planting. Many urban riverbanks have been
used as garbage dumps and are unsightly.
Planting these areas with various forms of
vegetation cannot only prevent use of the
banks for waste disposal, but can also make
them aesthetically more attractive, help in
flood control, and create more biodiversity.

Wastewater disposal is also a major component of urban greening. As previously mentioned, wastewaters can be filtered through
settling ponds and wetlands and/or used for
irrigation in urban agriculture or parks. Bogota, Colombia, already has a wastewater
irrigation system for croplands near the city.
Durban, South Africa uses wetlands and settling ponds to economically and ecologically
dispose of its urban wastewater
(See
Appendix A, Photo #13).

Curitiba, Brazil, has instituted an increasingly

common adaptation for its greenways:
neighborhood trails. These cost-effective
ecological transportation corridors provide a
meter-wide paved path in the middle of the
vegetation that winds through city

Another integral part of watershed management is erosion and flood control. Many
cities in Latin America and the Caribbean are
spread over hills and mountains or coastal
slopes and have serious erosion and flooding
problems. Millions of dollars a year are
49

spent on repairing damages caused by

landslides and floods, when for a fraction of
that expense urban greening could have
greatly diminished such tragedies. The InterAmerican
Development
Bank
has
participated in watershed protection
programs such as the one in Port-au-Prince,
Haiti, where 500 hectares of steep, degraded
land were reforested to stabilize hillsides and
reduce sedimentation in local streams and
reservoirs (IDB 1986).

Preservation of biodiversity tends to be most

favored in large, rural protected areas where
human impact is minimal. Typically, such
preserves form the core of a country's
national parks program. The goal of these
parks is to offer wilderness viewing
experience to citizens and to protect a wide
range of plant and animal species, frequently
by conserving entire ecosystems. Although
it is seldom possible to create a reserve of
this magnitude in or near a major
metropolitan area, they should still be
included in any country=s system of protected
areas. Moreover, if an adequate network of
green corridors can be established, then the
larger rural parks can directly enrich the biodiversity of urban parks by serving as a
source of species and genetic stock.

Natural flood control can be accomplished

with trees and other plantings along
riverbanks and in watershed areas, and by
utilizing wetlands or park lakes to retain
storm runoff and allow it to disperse
gradually. Mud and landslides can likewise
be minimized with tree plantings and other
erosion control methods (See Appendix A,
Photo #14).

While protected areas include grasslands,

deserts, migration corridors, and seashores,
the most common types in urban settings
tend to be wetlands, riparian habitats and
forests. In urban regions, protected areas
vary in size from a couple of hectares of bird
nesting habitats to forests of a thousand
hectares or more, though they tend to be
smaller the closer they are to the city center.

Protected Areas
The term Aprotected area@ in this case refers
to natural or reconstructed habitats that
receive some level of legal protection in
order to preserve their ecological or
biological
functions.
In
particular,
conservation of biological diversity, or
maximizing the number and range of species
in a given area, is receiving increasing
attention as a primary objective of protected
areas.
Managing for biodiversity also
includes attempting to maintain variety in the
genetic stock of organisms in order to
maintain their evolutionary viability. This
genetic viability is important to humans for
many reasons including the source of new
medicines, cultivates, disease resistant crops,
and other economic benefits (Wilson 1990).

Although often overlooked as swamps,

wastelands, or obstacles to development,
wetlands merit consideration as a priority
candidate for protected status. They contain
unusually high levels of biodiversity, and
offer a range of environmental services.
Despite the fact that wetlands are fragile
ecosystems they have considerable pollution
abatement properties. They also provide
flood protection, ground-water recharge,
wildlife habitat, entrepreneurial opportunities
(fishing,
tourism,
etc.),
wastewater
purification and in some cases shoreline
stabilization. Large wetlands in or near cities
50

also act to moderate surrounding air

temperatures, especially in warmer months
when they cool down the summer heat.
Thus, rather than draining, dredging or filling
wetlands, city planners need to appraise
these important ecosystems for their value as
a protected resource.

sanctuaries for birds and animals native to

the area while providing limited access for
recreation or other uses. Planners should also
consider protecting part or all of the
transition zones between ecosystem types, as
these areas tend to be highest in biodiversity.
These areas, because they contain elements
of two ecosystems (e.g., shorelines or river
banks), provide a habitat for the plants and
animals from both systems (e.g., water and
land dwelling species). Greenbelts in and
around cities also provide important habitat
areas, as do many suburban areas. Urban
greening programs must integrate urban and
rural planning into biological, ecological
planning that creates a more sustainable bioregion in and around urban centers (Smit,
1996).

Urban greening programs need to take

advantage of all the benefits wetlands can
provide by preserving or expanding existing
areas, and by creating new ones. An
excellent example of this can be found in
Waukesha, Wisconsin (USA) where half of
the city=s 800 acres (364 ha) of community
parkland has been preserved as wetlands.
Similarly, in Bogota, Colombia, efforts are
underway to improve water quality and
levels in the Herrera Lagoon to reduce odors
considerably and make it more attractive to
humans and local and migratory fauna (IDB
1990).

The above described activities of an urban

greening program are important and
beneficial. City planners and participating
stakeholders can be as creative and
enterprising as they want to be in
incorporating other elements into their
programs according to their specific needs
and desires. Whenever possible, innovative
approaches should be shared with planners
and participants in other cities in the region.

Wildlife habitats must also be protected

wherever it is still intact. Many cities in the
region have created protected areas in urban
sites that are unsuitable for development,
such as ravines, river sides, upper watersheds
or steep slopes. These areas serve as

51

Financing Urban Greening

Regardless of the funding mechanism used, it

is clear that urban greening programs need a
sustainable source of revenue to achieve
their greening goals. Long-term financial
planning as well as clearly defined strategies
and goals will help to prioritize a city=s
projects and will allow stakeholders and
investors to participate in making them a
reality. Urban greening programs also need
to take their place beside other urban needs
as worthy of public budget allocations that
provide for a city=s future.

The second advantage of diversified financial

support is that it encourages additional
investors. Multiple funders means reduced
risk for any one party. For example, a
project with financial backing from the
municipal and national government, NGOs,
and the international community would be
likely to attract a number of private
investors.
The third advantage is that multiple investors
means multiple stakeholders. Presumably,
every party wants to see its investment succeed. Thus, if the investors work together to
form a monitoring network, then attention to
detail is easier to accomplish and less of a
burden for all parties involved. While
division of labor can simplify tasks for all,
too much division and too many parties can
create ambiguities and lead to inefficiencies.
Ferguson and Maurer (1996) describe an
eight-way split of responsibility for the
environmental infrastructure of Sao Paulo
that has resulted in the incomplete provision
of services, as well as delays in design and
approval of water and sanitation projects. A
clear delineation of tasks is essential if a
project is to benefit from multiple investors.

Potential Funding Strategies

Possibly the most important strategy for
funding an urban greening project is to
secure more than one, and preferably several
sources of financing. Having a variety of
funding sources boasts at least three distinct
advantages. First, it provides a backup if
one source pulls out of the investment. With
budgetary crises in the public sector,
fluctuations of the business cycle, and
emergencies that divert funds from
nonprofits and the public and private sectors
alike, any one source of funding is at risk of
drying up. Spread across a variety of
sectors, however, the future funding of a
given project is less subject to chance
(Morgan 1996). For example, a forestry
development program in Nicaragua has local
funding and three outside funding sources.
The project is going forward despite the
initial hesitancy of one of those sources,
because the others have pledged their
continued support (IDB 1995).

Public Funding
Most governments in Latin America and the
Caribbean face serious fiscal constraints and
are struggling to meet their basic needs with
limited funds. The overwhelming external
debt of the region=s nations is contributing to
this situation. Consequently, any new
52

that abuts public rights-of-way); district

benefit assessments (in which residential
sections are divided into districts, and then
each district decides on the amount to
dedicate to improvements); municipal
greening bonds; and so on. For example, in
Santiago, Chile, citizens must pay a vehicle
tax (approximately US$250/car/year) and
can indicate how they would like that money
to be spent, i.e., on parks, crime prevention,
street lighting, etc. Each municipal program
competes for the funds by convincing the
taxpayers that the moneys are spent on their
particular projects.
An urban greening
program can yield enough benefits to
convince city residents to appropriate funds
for its projects.

ventures at the national, state or local level

have to pass stringent budgetary scrutiny and
much political persuasion to free up public
funds. Yet, if urban greening components
generate substantial positive externalities,
then the public sector should have a
mechanism to fund them.
At the municipal level, annual operating budgets are hotly debated, with each
government sector defending its current
expenditure and rationalizing a budget
increase to meet growing demands. Yet, the
majority of urban greening funds will have to
originate at the municipal level. In this
milieu, an urban greening program would
need to be included in an already established
department and hopefully share some of its
funding, sometimes at the expense of a
previous project. In general, urban greening
will be integrated into either environmental
or public works ministries or departments
and obtain public funding via their budget.

Another common way to get funding for

green areas is through permit fees and fines.
In ViZa del Mar, Chile, for example, when
utility companies, developers or home
owners have to excavate close to a tree, they
are required to pay for a permit and leave a
deposit as a guarantee that the work will not
damage the tree. The permit fees and
deposits pay for inspectors= salaries in the
Parks and Gardens Department. If a tree
cannot be transplanted and has to be cut to
make way for construction, landowners or
developers must pay a fine. In addition, all
developers are required to include tree
plantings in new commercial or housing
projects. Unauthorized tree cutting or
pruning is punished by fines which go back
into the urban greening program.

To the extent that trends in governmental

decentralization continue, discretionary
spending at the local/regional level will
increase (see Fern<ndez 1996). Furthermore,
lending institutions like the IDB are
increasingly willing to make loans directly to
cities. It is important to note that in most
countries cities have the tax and fiscal
autonomy necessary for financing urban
greening projects. Because cities develop
their own budgets and have certain powers
to levy taxes, they possess the wherewithal
required to provide funding for priority
projects. There are a variety of other fundraising strategies at the local level (see
Morgan 1996). Taxes can also be levied to
pay for greening projects, including:
beautification
taxes
(for
annual
improvements or specific projects); frontage
taxes (based on the linear feet of property

Finally, cities can reduce some of their

operating costs through tax incentives. For
example, in Curitiba, Brazil, landowners who
maintain or reforest areas of over 2000m2
are exempted from paying the land tax. More
than 500 landowners have qualified for this
exemption so far. This waiver has helped
keep many areas green and raise the
possibility that they may be converted into
53

private parks.

Urban agriculture can contribute to cost recovery as well. Farmers are willing and able
to pay for the right to use land, water and
waste and will even pay for police protection
if need be. In addition, urban agriculture
provides one third or more of the food
consumed in the region=s cities.
This
production is the equivalent of one eighth of
the economy of the average city in Latin
America.
The savings are even more
pronounced in the low income areas of cities,
where 30 percent to 70 percent of the
residents produce food (depending on access
to land), accounting for 60 percent to 80
percent of their economies. It may thus be
more cost effective to enable the poor to
green the city than to fund large
bureaucracies to do so (Smit 1996).

Cost Avoidance, Reduction

and Recovery
When looking at the overall budget of an
urban greening program, city officials can
adopt a strategy of increasing or generating
revenue as well as avoiding, reducing or recovering costs wherever possible. Such cost
recovery can be accomplished by various
means and is limited only by one=s creativity.
For example, Mexico City has a cost sharing
agreement with local utility companies for
employing the city=s greenways for utility
lines. In Curitiba, Brazil, for every tree cut
during development, two must be planted or
donated to the city to plant, thereby reducing
plant stock costs to the city.

Urban greening can also save a municipality

money in other areas outside of its greening
focus. For example, a project to improve the
water quality in Bogota, Colombia, will
result in better health for the populace that
consumes that water, thus reducing health
care costs for water-related diseases. These
medical savings are estimated to be
approximately US$2.5 million over 20 years,
a substantial savings (IDB 1990).

Urban greening programs in all their various

components can save a municipality money
by avoiding such costs as waste
management, flood and erosion control,
infrastructure demands, temperature control,
dike and dam construction, health costs, etc.
Some of these expenses are directly saved in
the municipal budget while others are more
indirect. Likewise, some of these savings
will be immediate and others will add up
over the long term (Smit 1996).

Debt-for-Nature Swaps

Costs can also be reduced through trades of

maintenance costs for goods or services. For
example, rather than pay for maintenance
expenses in city parks and green areas, these
costs can be absorbed by private companies,
NGOs or other stakeholder groups in exchange for reaping the benefits of that area.
Such benefits could be in the form of concessionaire rights, harvestable products or
exclusive use of a particular area.

This form of obtaining funds for

environmental projects was, for a time,
embraced enthusiastically, but due to
decreased indebtedness and risk of
repayment of the loans, it has lost some of its
early appeal. The general mechanism for
doing a Aswap@ is the following: an interested
party (usually an NGO) buys a portion of the
commercial debt of a developing country at a
discount and then makes a deal with one of
the country=s national banks to pay back the
54

full face value of the debt in local currency

instead of dollars. The novelty of the deal is
that the national bank, rather than paying the
northern NGO the owed money, pays it to a
national entity (usually an NGO) to finance
conservation projects.

of approximately US$9.6 million) while

financing its urban greening program in local
pesos (IDB 1992).
Trust Funds
The definition of a trust fund differs from
country to country, depending on the legal
system. However, a trust fund generally consists of money set aside for the benefit of a
certain party and held by a trustee. The
trustee can be a person, an institution or a
board that is legally responsible for managing
the investment. Trust funds can provide
financing for park programs that might not
otherwise have been possible (Wells 1992).

In the case of private sector debt there are

four main advantages to this arrangement.
According to Godwin (1993) they are: (1)
the commercial bank gains tax benefits and
reduces the risk of a loan default and
currency devaluations; (2) the developing
country bank saves scarce dollars while
investing in local currency with funds that
otherwise would have been used to pay
foreign creditors; (3) the northern NGO gets
more leverage for its investment; and (4) the
local conservation NGO gets funds that it
probably would not have had otherwise.

To ensure broad participation in deciding

how trust funds will be spent, the board of
trustees can be composed of representatives
of the various stakeholder and donor groups.
Trust funds can also be set up to accept
future funds and manage grants. In countries
where inflation and currency devaluations are
a problem, city officials can explore the
option of maintaining their funds in banks in
other countries (where allowed to by
national laws).

Mexico City=s ecological conservation program is the first in Latin America to utilize a
form of this funding mechanism for the
public sector with the help of the InterAmerican Development Bank. The IDB lent
the National Bank of Mexico US$100
million to help finance Mexico City=s
US$200 million urban greening project. The
national government bank used the IDB
funds to reduce its outstanding foreign debt
by redeeming its long-term bonds on the
secondary market. Since these bonds were
sold at a discount rate (less than their face
value), for every dollar lent by the IDB, the
Bank was able to retire approximately
US$1.21 in debt. The purchased securities
were then converted into local currency and
deposited into special accounts to be used
exclusively for the urban greening project. In
this manner, the national bank was able to
obtain local currency resources in excess of
the equivalent of the IDB loan (a net savings

An endowment is a type of trust fund,

usually a grant or gift of money that is
invested. The interest on the investment is
spent while the original capital remains
untouched. A new program can sometimes
get a start-up grant from private
conservation
organizations
or
other
international donors interested in supporting
green efforts (Mikitin and Osgood 1995)
through a sustainable mechanism of financing
ecological improvement through the income
generated by the fund.

55

Private Funding

National, Reg ional and Local F u nds for

Protected Areas System s or Natu re
Conserv ancy

There are a number of different ways

through which city managers can raise
private funds, or reduce the costs, for urban
greening and many examples already exist
around the region. In Sao Paulo, Brazil, a
condominium complex sponsored a nearby
city park (zero cost to the city) and income
from food concessions there goes to a
foundation to maintain the park. In the city=s
One Million Trees project, many tree
plantings also incur no net cost to public
entities because they are paid for by business
advertisements on the plastic tree protectors.
Similarly, 60 percent of Guatemala City=s
Aregreening the city@ project was financed by
private and corporate sources (Carter 1993).

Th e National Env ironm ent F u nd (F NMA) of Brazil

w as establish ed in 19 8 9 to prov ide grants to
NG Os, sm all m u nicipalities and research insti
tu tions. Its g oal is to prom ote priv ate and/or
local initiativ es to im prov e env ironm ental qu ality
and conserv ation of natu ral resou rces. Th e adm inistration of th e F u nd rests w ith th e Ministry
of th e Env ironm ent, bu t th e board of directors is a
m ix of g ov ernm ent and NG O m em bers repre
senting
all reg ions of Brazil. Three years after th e fu nd
w as created, th e IDB approv ed a U S$22 m illion
loan to th e federal g ov ernm ent in su pport of th e
initiativ e. Th e g ov ernm ent m ade a cou nterpart
pledge of U S$8 m illion, and th e F MNA has receiv ed
sev eral additional contribu tions from th e pu blic
bu dget since. By19 9 5 sev eral h u ndred projects
h ad been initiated w ith th is m oney, and fu rth er
efforts to replenish m ent and increase th e F u nd
w ere u nder consideration. (
Dou rojeanni 19 9 6 ).

Private funding obtained from concessions is

an attractive financing mechanism. Some
parks sell souvenirs, publications or other
merchandise to tourists, as well as
marketable products such as food or
medicinal plants. Concessionaires can pay
for either permits to sell their products in
green areas, or they can retain the right to
operate their businesses there in exchange
for maintaining the park. In either instance,
the city pays less for the park=s maintenance.

auctions or concerts in the park).

Corporate donations in exchange for
publicity are another way to garner private
funds. ViZa del Mar, Chile, is proposing to
other municipal authorities and to private
sector companies that they take over
complete responsibility for managing entire
parks (rather than individual trees) in
exchange for the company publicizing its
green contribution to the overall betterment
of the city. Private foundations, military
bases, universities and other institutions are
also frequent contributors to urban greening
programs.

Depending on the type of green area being

managed, some private funds could be raised
through individual donations (especially in
wealthier neighborhoods), entrance fees (as
in the case of city zoos), or through ticket
sales for sponsored events (such as movies,

56

Conclusion
The growing urban populations of Latin
America and the Caribbean, the majority of
whom are poor, have an urgent need for the
basic necessities of a reasonable quality of
life: adequate food, shelter, potable water
and jobs. A good portion of these needs can
be provided through urban greening. Green
areas can provide land for food production,
lumber for housing, fodder for livestock,
protected watersheds for clean water, sound
recreational environments and a variety of
entrepreneurial
opportunities
for
employment.

considerations have made it possible to share

costs
with
both
government
and
nongovernmental agencies and to work out
creative ways to get an urban greening
program started.
Depending on the
particular components of a program (trees
on the sidewalks, wastewater treatment,
etc.), funding from private and international
sources can also be solicited. Urban
agriculture may improve the access of urban
residents to good quality food at reasonable
costs.
Although almost every large city in Latin
America and the Caribbean has some form of
urban greening already in progress, much
more research and information sharing needs
to be accomplished in this area. Experiences
from other areas of the world, as well as
information about what does and doesn=t
work in the region, can help city planners
avoid costly experimentation and maximize
scarce resources. In addition, region-wide
training courses and shared research facilities
would greatly benefit all the region=s cities.
Although programs should be designed to
meet each city=s particular circumstances, all
metropolitan areas share some urban
problem whose solutions may be similar.

For the middle and higher income residents

in the region=s cities, other concerns will take
precedence: aesthetically pleasing work and
home environments, wildlife preservation,
waste recycling and climate improvements.
These too can be supplied by a
comprehensive urban greening program.
Urban greening can address the concerns of
city officials and urban planners for
protecting the populace from natural
tragedies such as floods and landslides, as
well as improve the city=s overall air, water
and climate quality for everyone.
Additionally, green areas provide citizens
and visitors alike opportunities for recreation
and education.

Urban greening is not just another project

implemented in a metropolitan environment
Cit is an integrated part of a larger whole,
inextricably connected to the social,
economic, political, biophysical, spiritual and
cultural surroundings of major cities. It is
precisely because urban greening is so
connected to other aspects of life in a city

Implementing an urban greening program

need not be a burden on the public budget.
Many cities in the region have already begun
some form of greening through existing
programs in various ministries or other
institutions. In addition, political and legal
57

that it is imperative that people from all

social and economic groups participate in its
design
and
implementation.
Broad
participation by the various stakeholders will
diminish potential conflicts and help generate
the strong support needed to initiate and
maintain a viable program.

The Inter-American Development Bank is

dedicated to making cities greener and
healthier through its support of urban
greening projects. The IDB intends to
continue financing projects whose primary
goal is to establish city parks and greenways.
Equally high on the Bank=s priorities is to
increasingly integrate urban greening into a
wide variety of urban development projects
including sanitation, drainage, housing and
infrastructure. This second type of project,
which is much more prevalent, holds great
promise for expanding the opportunities of
greening our cities. Creative implementation
of greening in existing programs promises
significant economic, environmental and
aesthetic benefits for minimal added cost.
Finally, through the creation and expansion
of an urban greening network in Latin
America and the Caribbean, the IDB hopes
to make accessible a wide breadth of
information,
technical
expertise
and
experiential knowledge so that new projects
can integrate the lessons learned from past
efforts and the wisdom of today=s competent
professionals.

Urban greening is also part of a much larger

natural system. Cities are situated within a
general ecosystem and as such are a part of a
larger bioregion. The ever expanding urban
environment subsumes or comes in
increasing contact with natural systems. To
preserve natural systems then, we need to
integrate nature into our cities. Whether it is
greenways,
wetlands
or
protected
watersheds that provide a habitat for wildlife,
or cultivated farmlands that preserve the
genetic variety of native crop species, green
areas contribute to maintaining and
expanding the biological base for diversity
that is essential to human survival into the
next millennium. A well-planned participatory urban greening program can thus
secure a healthy sustainable future for the
urban populations of Latin America and the
Caribbean.

58

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67

Appendix B:
Glossary of Terms
Arboriculture - the planting and care of
trees and, to a lesser extent, shrubs, vines
and ground cover; focuses on small groupings of trees and plants.

Nurseries - a location where seeds, seedlings, and mature plants are cultivated in
greenhouses or plots prior to being transported to their ultimate planting site (e.g.,
city park or greenway); good for trees and
shrubs as well as herbaceous species.

Focus Groups - informal meetings where

people freely give their opinions in response
to prepared questions or guided discussion.

Pioneer Species - plants that colonize an

area in the early stages of ecosystem succession and facilitate the subsequent colonization of transitional or climax species in that
area.

Greenbelts - large parcels of land in and

around cities where urban development is
totally prohibited through zoning, public
ownership, easements or development restrictions in order to preserve natural aspects
of the landscape and/or vegetation.

Riparian Reforestation - riverside tree

planting.

Greenhouse Effect - the warming of Earth=s

surface due to pollutants that form a layer of
heat-trapping gasses in the atmosphere,
thereby creating a heating effect similar to a
greenhouse.

Rural Forestry - planting trees in rural areas

principally for wood production and recreation.
Seed Banking - seed-rich topsoil is brought
from one site and the seeds within it allowed
to germinate and revegetate on a second
otherwise barren area; particularly good for
wetland species.

Greenways - narrow vegetated corridors

that can have multiple uses and functions
such as improving environmental quality,
providing recreation, and serving as alternative transportation (bicycle and foot paths).
Greenways are often sited along natural systems such as rivers, ravines, ridgelines and
floodplains.

Stakeholders - people or groups who directly or indirectly benefit from a green area,
such as local residents, businesses, farmers,
neighborhood associations, government
agencies, nongovernmental organizations,
schools, investors and others who share a
common interest in the area.

Informal Settlements - migrant communities, usually unplanned and unauthorized,

where the residents settle without title to
their land; often called squatter settlements,
slums or illegal occupations.

Suburban - areas of mostly-residential urban sprawl on the perimeter of urban centers;

68

sometimes referred to as Aperi-urban.@

trees and other vegetation within a city=s

limits; focuses on larger groupings of trees
and vegetation such as in parks.

Suburban Forestry - planting and managing

trees and other vegetation in suburban or
peripheral areas of a city; a mixture of urban
and rural forestry.
Urban - settlements of over 20,000 people;
cities have over 100,000 inhabitants and big
cities have over five million.

Urban Greening - an integrated, city-wide

approach to the planting, care and management of all vegetation in a city to secure multiple environmental and social benefits for
urban dwellers; projects may involve planting
of trees, shrubs, grass, or agricultural plots.

Urban Agriculture - food grown within a

city or suburban area; produced directly for
market or for home consumption and frequently sold by the farmers themselves.

Vegetation - all the plants or plant life of a

place, including trees, shrubs, annuals, perennials, grasses, vegetables, weeds and water
plants.

Urban Forestry - planting and managing

69

Appendix C:
Directory of Projects,
Contacts and Organizations
A.

Organizations in Latin America and the Caribbean

Municipalidad de la Provincia de Buenos Aires

Ricardo H. Revagliati**
Subsecretario de Medio Ambiente
Gobierno de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires
Carlos Pellegrini 211 Piso 6
Capital Federal, Argentina
Phone: 54 1 327-1829 / 326-8040
Fax: 54 1 393- 2190 / 393-2405
SubsecretarRa de Salud y Medio Ambiente
Salvador Alberto Barroso**
Direcci\n de Programaci\n y Acci\n Ambiental
Av. Velez Sarfield 5016
2300 C\rdoba, Argentina
Phone: 54 51 69-6769
Fax: 54 51 69-4975
AlcaldRa Municipal de la Paz
Jaime Cardozo S<inz**
Director de la Unidad de Forestaci\n
JardRn Bot<nico
Calle Lucas Jaimes 2073, Miraflores
Casilla 9206. La Paz, Bolivia
Phone: 591 2 37-5274/5761
Fax: 591 2 37-5061
German Agency for Technical Cooperation (GTZ) La Paz
Fernando Prado Pino*
Gr<ficos U. Salome C5 No. 524
La Paz, Bolivia
Tel/Fax: 591 2 22-5461

70

Secretaria Municipal do Meio Ambiente

Alfredo Vicente de Castro Trindade, Director of Environmental
Planning
Av. Manoel Ribas, 2727 - Merces
CEP 80810-000
Curitiba, Paran<, Brazil
Phone: 55 41 335-2112
Fax: 55 41 335-5141
Secretaria Municipal do Verde e
do Meio Ambiente
Werner Eugenio Zulauf, Secretary*
Av. Paulista 2073,
Piso superior 01311-040
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Phone: 55 11 283 25 18
Fax: 55 11 283 11 84
Sociedade Brasileira de ArborizaHao Urbana (SBAU)
(International Society of Arboriculture: Brazil chapter)**
Maria Alice de Lourdes Bueno Sousa
Departamento de Horticultura, Faculdade
de Ciencias Agron\micas
UNESP CEP 18603-970
Botucatu, SP, Brazil
Phone: 55 14 921-3883
Fax: 55 14 921-3438
Notes: This society is perhaps the largest urban forestry society in
Latin America and the Caribbean. The society holds an annual
conference on urban forestry.
Universidade Estudual Paulista
Maria Alice de Lourdes Bueno Sousa**
Facultad de Ciencias Agron\micas
Campus de Botucatu
Rua Joao Simoes, 250-Vila Dos MJdicos
CEP 18607-090 - Botucatu/SP - Brazil
Phone: 55 14 822-1698
Fax: 55 14 821-3438
Universidad de Sao Paulo Secretaria do Verde e Meio
Ambiente (SVMA)
71

Arlindo Philippi, Jr., Coordinador*

Department of Environmental Education
and Planning
Av. Paulista 2073,
CEP 01311 940 Sao Paulo
Sao Paulo, Brazil
Phone: 55 11 282-3842 / 853-0681 / 284-1737
Fax: 55 11 852-9630
Universidade Livre do Meio Ambiente
Cle\n Ricardo dos Santos**, Director Executivo
Rua Victor Benato, 210- Pilarzinho
82.120-110 Curitiva-PR-Brazil
Phone: 55 41 254-5548
Fax: 55 41 335-3443
Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo
Sergio Le\n Balza**
Asesor Sr. Ministro de Vivienda
y Urbanismo Programa de Parques Urbanos
Alameda 924 piso 4o. Santiago, Chile
Phone: 56 2 633-7829 / 639-6448
Fax: 56 2 639-7370
Ornato, Parques y Jardines
Ximena Olivia Ureta, Directora**
Santo Domingo No. 916, piso 8
Santiago, Chile
Phone: 56 2 630-8036 / 630-8043
Fax: 56 2 639-6017
Municipalidad de ViZa del Mar
Waldo Ceballos Ibarra, Chief of Parks and Gardens*
El CiprJs 2628 Depto 13. Miraflores
ViZa del Mar, Chile
Phone: 56 32 97-7120
Fax: 56 32 97-8360
Corporaci\n Regional Cundinamarca
Alfonso Herr<n, Subdirector Planeaci\n
Calle 10/, N/ 16 - 8 2, 6 / Piso
Bog ot<, Colom bia
Ph one: 5 7 124 3 - 8 5 0 6
72

Departam ento de M edio Am biente

Edu ardo U ribe Botero, Director*
Cra. 5 # 26 A 4 7 apt. 1701
Bog ot<, Colom bia
Ph one: 5 7 13 3 8 - 3 6 4 3 /3 3 7- 77106
Th e U rban Ag ricu ltu re Netw ork
Jorg e Zapp**
Calle 114 # 28 - 6 8 Ap. 201
Bog ot<, Colom bia
Ph one/F ax :
5 7 16 12- 3 8 8 3
jzapp@ h otm ail.com
jzapp@ im psat.net.co
M u nicipalidad de Bu caram ang a
Carlos IbaZez Mu Zoz, Mayor**
Calle 3 5 No. 10-4 3
Oficina 204 Seg u ndo Piso
Bu caram ang a, Santander, Colom bia
Ph one: 5 7 76 3 3 - 4 208 /3 3 - 78 08
F ax : 5 7 76 5 2- 1777
Ayu ntam iento del Distrito Nacional
Rafael Castillo**
Director de F oresta yMedio Am biente
Ayu ntam iento del Distrito Nacional
F rayCipriano de U trera
Centro de los HJroes, U rb. La F eria
Santo Dom ing o, Repdblica Dom inicana
Ph one: 8 09 5 3 5 - 2222
F ax : 8 09 5 3 5 - 9 18 4
F u ndaci\n Natu ra
W ania Cobo, Ex ecu tiv e Reg ional Director*
Av . Am erica 5 6 5 3 yVoz Andes
Qu ito, Ecu ador
Ph one: 5 9 3 2 4 4 - 73 4 1
F ax : 5 9 3 2 4 3 - 4 4 4 9
AlcaldRa M u nicipal de San Salv ador
Oscar Valle F lores**
73

G erencia de Parqu es yZonas Verdes

Despach o del Sr. Alcalde
Alam eda Ju an Pablo II
yAv . Cu scatancing o
San Salv ador, Repdblica de El Salv ador
Ph one: 5 0 3 24 2- 3 16 3 /221-15 8 1
F ax : 5 0 3 222- 8 223 /222- 8 6 70
M u nicipalidad de G u atem ala
Ax el Velasqu ez**
Div isi\n de Parqu es yAreas Verdes
Palacio Mu nicipal. 21calle 6 - 77, Zona 1
G u atem ala, G u atem ala
Ph one: 5 0 2 2 3 8 - 3 770
F u ndaci\n de Parqu es Nacionales
Analyda Melara de F anconi**
Parqu es Naciones U nidas AEl Picach o@
Apartado Postal No 204 0 3
Com ayag u ela, Hondu ras
Ph one: 5 0 4 21-9 126
F ax : 5 0 4 21-9 127
M u nicipalidad de San Pedro Su la
G erardo F rancisco Nu Zez**
Director del Am biente
Departam ento de CortJs
19 Calle 5 6 Av enida. Barrio las Palm as
San Pedro Su la, Hondu ras
Ph one: 5 0 4 5 6 - 8 4 3 2
F ax : 5 0 4 5 6 - 9 19 1/5 7- 28 4 4
Com isi\n de Recu rsos Natu rales
Adolfo U riel G onz<lez Monz\n
Av . Adolfo Ru iz Cortines 3 3 13
Mex ico City, M Jx ico 10200
Ph one: 5 2 5 6 8 3 - 278 4 Ex t.107
Com isi\n de Recu rsos Natu rales (CORENA)
Jorg e G onzalez Clav eran*
Planeaci\n U rbana
74

G eorg ia 16 3 - 13 Col. N<poles, M Jx ico

Distrito F ederal
Ph one: 5 2 5 6 8 7- 3 3 4 7/6 6 9 - 3 9 3 1
Em ail: JCLAVER@ IPN red ipn.M
G obierno del Estado de M Jx ico (G EM )
Leopoldo Pedraza Ceron*
Deleg ado Reg ional en Tex coco
SecretarRa de Ecolog Ra
Coordinaci\n G eneral de Conserv aci\n Ecol\g ica
Independencia 13 10 a
Colonia Independencia,
C.P.5 0 0 70 Tolu ca, Estado de MJx ico
M Jx ico
Ph one/F ax : 5 2 72 14 - 5 0 27
M u nicipalidad de M anag u a
RenJ Qu esada Prado
Asesor del Alcalde de Manag u a**
Com plejo CRv ico. Apartado Postal No 14 1
Manag u a, Nicarag u a
Ph one: 5 0 5 2 6 5 -004 8 /6 5 -004 9
F ax : 5 0 5 2 6 5 -005 1/6 5 -06 20
5 0 5 2 6 5 - 1101
M u nicipalidad de Panam <
Tom <s Vazqu ez**
Director de Ornato yMedio Am biente
Despach o de la Alcaldesa
Av enida B yCalle 15
Apartado 5 0 3 , Panam <1, Panam <
Ph one: 5 0 7 26 2- 73 3 6 /26 2- 5 73 8
F ax : 5 0 7 26 2-023 2
M u nicipalidad de Lim a
Arnold Millet Lu na**
Director Mu nicipal de Serv icios a la Ciu dad
3 er, piso del Palacio Mu nicipal
Lim a, Perd
F ax : 5 11 4 3 3 - 5 722 /4 26 -09 5 0

75

International Institu te of Tropical F orestry

NancyRobin Morg an*
U nited States Departm ent of
Agricu ltu re F orest Serv ice
State and Priv ate F orestry (U SDA)
P.O. Box 25 0 0 0 San Ju an
Pu erto Rico 009 28 - 5 0 0 0
Intendencia M u nicipal de Montev ideo
Alberto Orteg a**
Director G eneral Departam ento de
Acondicionam iento U rbano
Av . 18 de Ju lio yEjido No. 13 6 0 3 er piso
C.P. 11200 Montev ideo, U ru g u ay
Ph one: 5 9 8 2 9 1-28 76 /9 1- 4 9 9 2
F ax : 5 9 8 2 9 1-79 8 1/9 8 - 4 5 9 5
M u nicipalidad de M Jrida
Rig oberto Colm enares Moret**, Alcalde
Mu nicipio Libertador
Av . U rdaneta, al lado Coleg io de MJdicos
MJrida, Venezu ela
Ph one: 5 8 74 6 3 - 8 28 4
F ax : 5 8 74 6 3 - 19 77
B.

Org anizations in Oth er Cou ntries

(ex cept U .S.A.)

Danish F orest and Landscape Research Institu te

K jell Nilsson*
U rban F orestry
Horsh olm K ong ev ejII,
DK 29 70 Hoersh olm , Denm ark
Ph one: 4 5 4 5 7- 6 3 200/4 5 4 5 7 6 3 23 3
Em ail: K JN@ F SL.DK
National U rban F orestryU nit
Nerys Jones, Ex ecu tiv e Director
Red Hou se, Hill Lane, G reat Barr
W est Midlands, Eng land B4 3 6 LZ
Ph one: 01213 5 8 - 14 14
76

F ax :

01213 5 8 - 704 5

F ood and Ag ricu ltu re Org anization of th e U nited Nations

(F AO)
Su san M. Braatz and Jane Carter
F AO, Room B- 3 6 7 bis
Viale delle Term e di Caracalla
Rom e 00100, Italy
Ph one: 3 9 6 5 22 5 3 9 02
Notes: F AO started dev eloping its u rban forestryprog ram in
19 9 0 and h as produ ced an annotated bibliog raph yon u rban
forestryin dev eloping cou ntries as w ell as an issu es paper on th e
su bject.
Ireland's National You th Env ironm ental
Org anisation
K ev in D. Collins, M.Agr.Sc.(F orestry)
Com m u nityF orestryOfficer
3 9 F leet Street
Du blin 2, Ireland
Ph one: 3 5 3 16 79 - 9 6 73
F ax : 3 5 3 16 79 - 4 129
Env ironm ent, U rban Dev elopm ent Departm ent
Debra Roberts, Manag er
Ph ysical Env ironm ental Serv ice U nit
P.O. Box 6 8 0
Du rban, Sou th A frica
Ph one: 27 3 13 00-25 27
F ax : 27 3 13 00-2225
C.

Org anizations Based in th e U nited States

G reenbelt Alliance
Jim Sayer, Ex ecu tiv e Director
116 New M ontg om eryStreet, Su ite 6 4 0
San F rancisco, CA 9 4 105 , U SA
Ph one: 4 15 5 4 3 - 4 29 1
U rban Ecolog y
77

K im Traber, Office Manag er

4 0 5 14 th St., Su ite 701
Oakland, CA 9 4 6 12
Ph one: 5 10 25 1-6 3 3 0
F ax : 5 10 25 1-2117
E- m ail: U rbanEcolog y@ IG C.APC.org
Am erican F orests
G aryMall
U rban F orestryProg ram Director
15 16 P. St. NW
W ash ing ton, DC 20005
Ph one: 202 6 6 7- 3 3 00
F ax : 202 6 6 7- 275 6
Notes: Am erican F orests is th e oldest national citizen
conserv ation org anization in th e U nited States. Th e association
h as dev eloped tech niqu es and com pu ter softw are for m easu ring
u rban forests and for inv entorying u rban trees. Th e AF 's biannu al
conference is th e larg est u rban forestryconference in th e U nited
States and w ill be h eld nex t in 19 9 7. AF h as 112,0 0 0 m em bers.
Cool Com m u nities
Cool Com m u nities Coordinator
P.O. Box 2000
W ash ing ton, DC 20013 - 2000
Ph one: 202 6 6 7- 3 3 00
G lobal Releaf, International
Ch rystia Sonev ytsky, Coordinator
15 16 P. St. NW
W ash ing ton, DC 20005
Ph one: 202 6 6 7- 3 3 00 Ex t. 23 1
F ax : 202 6 6 7- 275 6
National Tree Tru st
Sh aron G . Bailey, Prog ram Director
1120 G . Street, N.W ., Su ite 770
W ash ing ton, DC 20005
Ph one: 202 6 28 - 8 73 3 Ex t. 8 13
F ax : 202 6 28 - 8 73 5
78

U rban Ag ricu ltu re Netw ork (U AN)

Jac Sm ith , President
1711Lam ont St. NW
W ash ing ton, DC 20010
Ph one: 202 4 8 3 8 13 0
F ax : 202 9 8 6 6 73 2
e- m ail: 7214 4 .3 4 4 6 @ com pu serv e.com
International Societyof Arboricu ltu re (ISA)
Jim Skiera, Vice President
P.O.B. G G
Sav oy, IL6 18 74 - 9 9 02
Ph one: 217 3 5 5 - 9 4 11
F ax : 217 3 5 5 - 9 5 16
U rban F orestryInstitu te
MaryDu rier
Sch ool of F orestry. U niv ersityof F lorida
G ainesv ille, F L
Ph one: 9 04 8 4 6 -08 9 6
Notes: Th e Institu te condu cts research on u rban forestryin th e
U nited States and dev eloping cou ntries.
U SDA F orest Serv ice
Dav id J. Now ak, *
U rban F orest
5 M oon Library, Su nyCESF
Syracu se, N.Y.
Ph one: 3 15 4 4 8 - 3 212
F ax : 3 15 4 4 8 - 3 216
International Societyof Tropical F oresters (ISTF )
W arren T. Doolittle, President
5 4 00 G rosv enor Lane
Beth esda, M D 208 14
Ph one: 3 01 8 9 7- 8 720
F ax : 3 01 8 9 7- 3 6 9 0
Parks and Recreation Departm ent of Oklah om a
79

Joe Roberts
Cityof Tu lsa
1712 W est Ch arles Pag e Blv .
Tu lsa, OK 74 127
Ph one: 9 18 5 9 6 - 78 71
Departm ent of Pu blic W orks,
Div ision of F orestry, Cityof M ilw au kee
Rich ard Meyer, Lead F orester
8 4 1N. Broadw ay, Room 8 04
Milw au kee, W I5 3 202
Ph one: 4 14 278 - 3 5 9 5
F ax : 4 14 28 6 - 8 09 7
W au kesh a Parks and Recreation Departm ent, Cityof W au kesh a
Dav e Liska, Head F orester
201Delafeld St.
W au kesh a, W I5 3 18 8
Ph one: 4 14 5 24 - 3 710
Sch ool of Natu ral Resou rces: U rban F orestryDepartm ent
Robert Miller*
Colleg e of Natu ral Resou rces: U rban F orestryDepartm ent
U niv ersityof W isconsin - Stev ens Point
Stev ens Point, W I5 4 4 8 1
Ph one: 715 3 4 6 - 4 18 9
F ax : 715 3 4 6 - 3 6 24

* Speaker at th e International Sem inar on U rban G reening in Latin

Am erica and th e Caribbean, Mex ico City. Decem ber 2- 5 , 19 9 6 .
**Participant at th e sam e sem inar.

80